COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  STUDIES  IN  ENGLISH 
AND  COMPARATIVE  LITERATURE 


THE  BALLADE 


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THE    BALLADE 


BY 

HELEN  LOUISE  COHEN       ^ 


Submitted  in  Partial  Fulfilment  of  the  Requirements 

FOR  THE  Degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy,  in  the 

Faculty  of  Philosophy,  Columbia  University 


COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 
1915 


953 

C611 


Copyright,  1915 
By  Columbia  University  Press 


Printed  from  type  April,  1915 


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Thc  New  Era  printino  Company 

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This  Monograph  has  been  approved  by  the  Depart- 
ment of  English  and  Comparative  Literature  in  Columbia 
University  as  a  contribution  to  knowledge  worthy  of 

publication. 

A.  H.  THORNDIKE, 

Executive  Officer 


Q^  A  A  A  /i 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

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PREFACE 

This  work,  begun  as  a  study  of  the  ballade  in  English 
and  eventually  outgrowing  its  narrower  limits,  undertakes 
to  give  the  history  of  that  verse  form  from  its  origins  in 
Romance  lands  through  its  career  in  France  and  England 
up  to  the  present  day.  An  attempt  is  made  to  show  what 
modifications  the  form  underwent  at  the  hands  of  the  trou- 
veres;  how,  in  the  course  of  poetic  competitions,  the  env^^ 
came  to  be  added,  and  how  the  formal  ballade,  in  the  end, 
became  unalterably  reduced  to  three  stanzas  with  identical 
rime  scheme  and  refrain.  The  account  given  of  the  course 
of  this  lyric  in  France  illustrates  the  typical  ideas  that  per- 
vaded ballade  literature  and  calls  attention  also  to  the  func- 
tion of  the  ballade  in  the  drama.  A  minute  examination 
of  the  Middle  English  ballade  is  made  possible  by  the  com- 
paratively small  number  of  specimens  in  that  language. 
The  selections  in  Chapter  III,  brought  together  for  the  first 
time  from  rhetorical  and  critical  treatises  of  the  fourteenth, 
fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  centuries,  will  be  found 
useful  for  the  detailed  study  of  this  fixed  form  and  as  a 
means  of  gauging  its  changing  popularity  as  reflected  in 
current  literary  criticism.  The  last  chapter  deals  with  the 
ballade  in  the  nineteenth  century  and  after.  My  obliga- 
tions to  previous  research  I  have  made  plain  in  the  foot- 
notes and  in  the  Bibliographies.  The  latter  contain  lists 
of  all  the  manuscripts  and  of  most  of  the  books  which  I 
have  consulted. 

There  is  little  that  is  original  in  my  account  of  the  begin- 
nings of  French  poetry,  except  as  the  various  theories  of 
the  origin  of  the  Romance  lyric  are  applied  to  the  ballade. 
Neither  do  the  sections  in  Chapter  IV,  devoted  to  Chaucer 
and  to  Quixley,  pretend  to  be  more  than  a  summary  of  the 
results  of  recent  scholarship.    Where  I  have  copied  ballades 

vii 


VIU  PREFACE 

from  manuscripts,  I  have  sought  to  make  a  faithful  tran- 
scription rather  than  a  critical  text,  and  have  rarely  sup- 
plied more  than  punctuation.  The  following  material  is,  I 
believe,  printed  for  the  first  time : 

Chapter  ii. 

''Ave  douce  dame  de  paradis,'*  British  Museum  Ms. 
AddiUotwl  15224. 

Ballade  en  la  Personne  de  la  Vierge,  Bihliotheque 
Nationale  Ms.  Fr,  24408. 

"Ma  mere  ou  ma  face  est  empraincte,"  same  manu- 
script. 

"Les  payens  versificateurs, ' '  same  manuscript. 

''Le  grant  yver  par  sa  froidure,"  Bihliotheque  Na- 
tionale Ms.  Fr.  19369. 

*'Au  verger  de  dieu  ordonee,*'  Bihliotheque  Na- 
tionale Ms.  24408. 

Oraison  par  Maniere  de  Ballade,  same  manuscript. 

Sur  la  Peche  Borgueil,  Bihliotheque  Nationale  Ms. 
Fr.  2306. 

*  *  Pecheur  qui  scez  qui  morir  doiz, '  *  British  Museum 
Ms.  Harley  4397. 

Ballade  de  la  Mort,  Bihliotheque  Nationale  Ms.  Fr. 
1707, 

Chapter  iv. 

Balade  upon  the  Chaunce  of  the  Dyse,  Bodleian  Ms. 
Fairfax  16. 

Balade  Coloured  and  Reuersid,  British  Museum  Ms. 
Arundel  26.^ 

Triple  Ballade,  Cambridge  University  Library  Ms, 
Fg.  1.6.  and  Bodleian  Ms.  Tanner  246. 

1  This  was  printed  by  H.  N.  MacCracken  a  year  after  I  had  tran- 
scribed it.     Cf.  p.  286  below. 


PREFACE  IX 

Balade  fet  de  la  Beygne  Katerine  Bussel,  Trinity 
College  Ms.  B  14,5. 

Appendix  i. 

''Gentilz  gallans  faictes  armee"  and  "Les  dames  ont 
vue  la  requeste,"  Bodleian  Ms.  Douce  479. 
With  printed  material  I  have  followed  the  text  given 
except  in  the  case  of  early  printed  books,  where  I  have 
occasionally  supplied  punctuation.  The  following  selec- 
tions are  reprinted  from  books  in  no  case  later  than  the 
seventeenth  century : 

Chapter  ii. 

Ormson  a  la  Vierge  Marie,  Les  Faictz  et  Dictz  de 
Sieur  Jehan  Molinet  (Paris,  1531). 

Balade  de  la  Morte,  Jehan  Bouchet,  XIII  Bondeaulx 
Avec  XXV  Balades  Differentes  (Paris,  1536). 

La  Morte  Parle  a  Lhomme  Humain,  Les  Lunettes  des 
Princes  (Paris,  1539). 

Balade  contre  Folles  Amours,  Jehan  Bouchet,  same 
title  and  date  as  above. 

Le  Sexe  Masculin,  two  hallades  with  this  title, 
Gracien  Dupont,  Les  Controverses  des  Sexes  Masculin 
et  Feminin  (Toulouse,  1584). 

Balade  de  Mazarin  Grand  Joueur  de  Hoc  (Paris, 
1649). 

Chapter  ni. 

On  the  theory  of  the  ballade  from : 

Gracien  Dupont.  Art  et  Science  de  Bhetoricque 
Metriffiee   (Toulouse,  1539). 

Francoise  de  Pierre  Delaudun  Daigaliers,  L^Art 
Poetique  Frangois    (Paris,  1598). 

Pierre  de  Deimier,  L' Academic  de  L'Art  Poetique 
(Paris,  1610). 

Francois  Colletet,  L'Escole  des  Muses  (Paris,  1656). 


X  PREFACE 

Envoy,  Court  of  Sapyence  (printed  by  Wynkyn  de 
Worde,  1510). 

Outside  the  faculty  of  Colmnbia  University,  I  wish  espe- 
cially to  thank  M.  Joseph  Bedier,  M.  Pierre  Champion,  Pro- 
fessor H.  N.  MacCracken  of  Smith  College,  Professor  K.  C. 
M.  Sills  of  Bowdoin  College,  and  Professor  John  M.  Bur- 
nam  of  the  University  of  Cincinnati  for  their  kindly  advice ; 
and  M.  Alfred  Jeanroy,  Mr.  Austin  Dobson,  Mr.  Edmund 
Gosse,  and  Andrew  Lang — ^though  in  his  case  it  is  now  too 
late — for  their  generous  letters,  now  incorporated  in  the 
text. 

I  am  glad  to  acknowledge  the  courtesy  of  the  authorities 
of  the  British  Museum  and  of  the  Bihliotheque  Nationale, 
and  to  record  the  help  received  from  Mr.  Falconer  Madan 
and  Mr.  R.  A.  Abrams  of  the  Bodleian  Library,  from  M. 
Georges  Ritter  of  the  library  at  Rouen,  Mr.  T.  J.  Kiernan  of 
the  Harvard  Library,  and  Miss  P.  V.  Fullerton  of  the  New 
York  Public  Library.  I  am  also  under  obligations  to  Mr, 
Frederick  W.  Erb  and  Miss  A.  M.  Erb  of  the  Columbia 
Library  for  their  most  expert  and  painstaking  services. 

To  my  friend  and  former  fellow  student.  Professor  Frank 
H.  Ristine  of  Hamilton  College,  I  am  indebted  for  the 
assistance  he  has  given  me  in  preparing  my  manuscript  for 
the  press  and  in  reading  the  proof.  Professor  Raymond 
"Weeks,  Professor  C.  S.  Baldwin,  Professor  H.  M.  Ayres, 
Professor  F.  A.  Patterson,  all  of  Columbia  University,  have 
read  my  manuscript  and  have  made  many  valuable  sug- 
gestions. I  take  this  opportunity  of  expressing  my  grati- 
tude to  them  for  their  cooperation.  To  Professor  William 
W.  Lawrence,  who  suggested  the  subject  of  this  study,  and 
who  has  throughout  my  work  acted  as  counselor  and  critic, 
I  owe  most. 

H.  L.  C. 
Washington  Irving  High  School, 
New  York,  1  February,  1914. 


INTRODUCTION 

Several  contemporary  critics,  notably  Benedetto  Croce, 
condemn  those  scholars  who  try  to  separate  and  identify 
literary  types  as  if  they  were  so  many  labeled  and  distinct 
specimens  in  a  museum  of  literary  history.  It  is  the  con- 
tention of  Croce  and  his  followers  that  the  terms,  **  trag- 
edy,'' "romance,"  "lyric,"  and  the  like,  are  employed 
merely  as  a  rough  attempt  at  classification  and  not  in  con- 
formity to  genuine  definitions.^  Every  piece  of  litera- 
ture is  thus  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  law  unto  itself.  This 
conception  of  criticism  would,  for  example,  put  the  ban  on 
any  consideration  of  the  technique  of  poetry  as  distinct 
from  its  substance.  The  ballade,  however,  by  its  very 
nature,  is  regulated  by  laws  outside  itself.  Its  construc- 
tion is  determined  by  arbitrary  requirements.  Though  a 
tragedy  is  a  tragedy,  whether  it  observe  the  unities  or 
ignore  them,  whether  it  be  Samson  Agonistes  or  King  Lear, 
a  hallade  depends  upon  its  three  stanzas,  its  identical  rimes, 
and  its  refrain  for  its  very  being. 

The  similarity  in  sounds  between  the  terms,  ballade  and 
ballad,  has  sometimes  led  English-speaking  people  to  mis- 
conceive the  character  of  the  former.  The  fixed  verse  form, 
now  known  as  the  ballade,  is  as  great  a  contrast  as  could 
well  be  imagined  to  the  traditional  narrative  or  lyric  poems 
of  uncertain  dimensions,  or  in  fact  to  any  verse  forms  not 
fixed,  that  go  under  the  name  of  ballad.  But  antithetical 
as  a  popular  ballad  like  The  Twa  Sisters  o'  Binnorye  and 

1  Benedetto  Croce,  Estetica,  translated  as  Aesthetic  as  Science  of 
Expression  and  General  Linguistic,  by  Douglas  Ainslee  (London, 
1909),  p.  63. 


Xll  INTRODUCTION 

any  ballade  are  in  length,  in  subject  matter,  and  in  purpose, 
they  have,  nevertheless,  two  features  in  common,  repetition 
and  refrain,  both  of  which  point  to  a  popular  origin  in  the 
choral  song  of  early  times.  At  least  some  of  the  refrains  in 
the  hallettes,  which  were  in  all  probability  the  immediate 
progenitors  of  the  French  ballade,  are  fragments  of  early 
popular  lyrics,  though  transmitted  through  an  aristocratic 
medium. 

The  ballade  in  its  most  highly  developed  artistic  form,  is 
defined  in  Rostand's  Cyrano  de  Bergerac,  in  a  familiar 
scene  between  Cyrano  and  the  Yicomte  de  Valvert.  The 
nobleman  contemptuously  salutes  the  '  *  cadet  de  Gascogne ' ' 
as  *'Poete!"  and  an  altercation  follows: 

Cyrano 
"  Oui,  monsieur,  poete !  et  tellement, 
Qu^en  ferraillant  je  vais — hop! — a  I'improvisade, 
Vous  composer  une  ballade. 

Le  Vicomte 

Une  ballade? 

Cyrano 
Vous  ne  vous  doutez  pas  de  ce  que  c'est,  je  crois? 

Lb  Vicomte 
Mais.  .  .  . 

Cyrano,  r^citant  comme  une  legon. 

La  ballade,  done,  se  compose  de  trois 
Couplets  de  huit  vers  .  .  . 

Le  Vicomte,  pi^tinant. 
Oh! 

Cyrano,  continuant. 

Et  d'un  envoi  de  quatre  .  .  . 


INTRODUCTION  ^iii 

Le  Vicomte 


Vous  .  . 


Cyrano 
Je  vaia  tout  ensemble  en  faire  una  et  me  battre, 
Et  vous  toucher,  monsieur,  au  dernier  vers. 

Le  Vicomte 

Non! 
Cyrano 

Non? 
(D^clamant.) 
^^  Ballade  du  duel  qu'en  Vhotel  hourquignon 
Monsieur  de  Bergerac  eut  avec  un  helitre!" 

Le  Vicomte 
Qu'est-ce  que  c'est  que  ga,  s'il  vous  plait? 

Cyrano 

C'est  le  titre. 


Cyrano,  f ermant  une  seconde  les  yeux. 
Attendez!  .  .  .  je  choisis  mes  rimes  .  .  .  La,  j'y  suis. 

(n  fait  ce  qu'il  dit,  ^  mesure.) 
Je  jette  avec  grace  mon  feutre, 
Je  fais  lentement  I'abandon 
Du  grand  manteau  qui  me  calfeutre, 
Et  je  tire  mon  espadon; 
Elegant  comme  Celadon, 
Agile  comme  Scaramouche, 
Je  vous  previens,  cher  Mirmydon, 
Qu'a  la  fin  de  I'envoi  je  touche ! 

(Premiers  engagements  de  far.) 
Vous  auriez  bien  du  rester  neutre; 
Ou  vais-je  vous  larder,  dindon?  .  .  . 


XIV  INTRODUCTION 

Dans  le  flanc,  sous  votre  maheutre?  .  .  . 
Au  coBur,  sous  votre  bleu  cordon?  .  .  . 
.  .  .  Les  coquilles  tintent,  ding-don! 
Ma  pointe  voltige :  une  mouche ! 
Deeidement  .  .  .  c^est  au  bedon, 
Qu'a  la  fin  de  Penvoi,  je  louche. 

II  me  manque  une  rime  en  eutre  .  .  . 
Vous  rompez,  plus  blane  qu'amidon? 
C^est  pour  me  f  oumir  le  mot  pleutre ! 
.  .  .  Tac!  je  pare  la  pointe  dont 
Vous  esperiez  me  faire  don; — 
J'ouvre  la  ligne, — ^je  la  bouche  .  .  . 
Tiens  bien  ta  broche,  Laridon ! 
A  la  fin  de  I'envoi,  je  louche. 

(II  annonce  solennellement : ) 

Envoi 
Prince,  demande  a  Dieu  pardon ! 
Je  quarte  du  pied,  j^escarmouche, 
Je  coupe,  je  feinle  .  .  . 

(Se  fendant.) 

He!  la  done, 
(Le  vicomte  chancelle;  Cyrano  salue.) 
A  la  fin  de  I'envoi,  je  louche.^ 

2  With  this  masterpiece  of  Eostand's  should  be  compared  Lafon- 
taine's  '*  Ballade  pour  le  second  Terme,"  written  in  1659  and  dedi- 
cated to  Foucquet  in  return  for  financial  assistance.  (See  H.  Eegnier, 
CEuvres  de  J.  de  La  Fontaine,  Paris,  1883,  Vol.  I,  p.  Ix). 

**  Trois  /ois  dix  vers,  et  puis  cinq  d'ajont^,  ^ 
Sans  point  d  *abus,  c  'est  ma  tache  complMe ;    M^ 
Mais  le  mal  est  qu  'ils  ne  sont  pas  compt^s.     ^ 
Par  quelque  bout  il  faut  que  je  m'y  mette; 
Puis,  que  jamais  ballade  je  promette, 
Dus86-je  entrer  au  fin  fond  d'une  tour, 
Nenni,  ma  fois,  car  je  suis  d6ja  court, 


INTRODUCTION  XV 

Here  we  have,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  a  definition  and 
an  example  of  the  ballade.  It  was  this  fixed  form  which, 
in  the  late  Middle  Ages,  captured  the  taste  of  France  and 
even  had  a  certain  vogue  in  England.     In  the   former 

Si  que  je  crains  que  n'ayez  rien  du  notre. 
Quand  il  s  'agit  de  mettre  une  oeuvre  au  Jour, 
Promettre  est  un,  et  tenir  est  un  autre. 

Sur  ce  refrain,  de  grace,  permettez 
Que  je  vous  conte  en  vers  une  sornette. 
Colin,  venant  des  universites, 
Promit  un  jour  cent  francs  a  Guillemette. 
De  quatre-vingts  il  trompa  la  fillette. 
Qui,  de  d6pit,  lui  dit  pour  faire  court: 
Vous  y  viendrez  cuire  dans  notre  four  I 
Colin  repond,  faisant  le  bon  apotre: 
Ne  vous  fachez,  belle;  car,  en  amour, 
Promettre  est  un,  et  tenir  est  un  autre. 

Sans  y  penser  j  'ai  vingt  vers  ajustes, 
Et  la  besogne  est  plus  d'^  demi  faite. 
Cherchons-en  treize  de  tous  cotes, 
Puis  ma  ballade  est  enti^re  et  parf  aite. 
Pour  faire  tant  que  I'ayez,  toute  nette, 
Je  suis  en  eau,  tant  que  j  ^ai  1  'esprit  lourd, 
Et  n  'ai  rien  fait  se  par  quelque  bon  tour 
Je  ne  fabrique  encore  un  vers  en  otre; 
Car  vous  pourriez  me  dire  k  votre  tour: 
Promettre  est  un,  et  tenir  est  un  autre. 

Envoi 
O  vous,  Phonneur  de  ce  mortel  s^jour,       ^ 
Ce  n  'est  pas  d  'hui  que  ce  proverbe  court ;    ^ 
On  ne  I'a  fait  de  mon  temps  ni  du  votre:   dL_ 
Trop  bien  savez  qu  'en  language  de  cour      (1, 
Promettre  est  un,  et  tenir  est  un  autre. '*  d 

J.  de  la  Fontaine,  (Euvres  Computes  (Paris,  1820),  Vol.  XIII,  p.  215. 
Cf.  also,  Brander  Matthews,  Becreations  of  an  Anthologist  (New 
York,  1904),  p.  35. 


XVI  INTRODUCTION 

country,  from  the  end  of  the  fourteenth  to  the  beginning  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  it  attained  incredible  popularity. 
Eustache  Deschamps  (1320-1415),  for  example,  alone  wrote 
at  least  eleven  hundred  and  seventy-five  hallades.^  More- 
over, the  ballade  like  the  sonnet,  its  successor  in  favor, 
came  to  be  written  in  more  or  less  closely  connected 
sequences.*  With  the  importation  into  France  in  the  six- 
teenth century  of  new  ideas  derived  ultimately  from  the 
literature  of  classical  antiquity,  the  vogue  of  the  hdllade 
grew  less  pronounced,  so  that  we  find  it  a  matter  of  indif- 
ference, if  not  of  positive  contempt,  to  the  members  of  the 
Pleiade.^  French  poets,  however,  unlike  the  English,  never 
altogether  discontinued  the  use  of  this  lyric,  although  it 
was  more  or  less  sporadic  in  French  literature  until  the 
nineteenth  century.®  Then  Banville  and  his  followers'  cul- 
tivated the  form  once  more ;  but  the  number  composed  by 
them  is  insignificant  compared  with  the  thousands  of  hal- 
lades  written  by  the  fifteenth  century  poets.  In  England, 
the  ballade  vanished  with  the  generation  after  Chaucer, 
not  to  reappear  there  until  the  closing  years  of  the  century 
just  past. 

When  once  the  poetic  guilds  of  Northern  France  had  pre- 
scribed a  ballade  like  Cyrano's  improvisation,  the  essential 
features  of  that  form  were  no  longer  a  matter  of  choice. 

3  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire,  CEuvres  Completes  de  Eustache 
Deschamps,  Society  des  Anciens  Textes  Frangais  (Paris,  1891),  Vol. 
I,  p.  X. 

4  See  Chapter  II,  below. 

6  Cf .  Du  Bellay  's  characterization  of  the  "ballade,  cited  in  Chapter 
III,  below. 

«  Voiture,  Sarrazin,  Mme.  Deshouli^res,  and  La  Fontaine  wrote  bal- 
lades in  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Cf.  Chapter  II, 
below. 

7  Musset,  Copp^e,  Rollinat,  Verlaine,  Tailhade,  etc.  Cf .  Chapter  V, 
below. 


INTRODUCTION  XVll 

A  poet  who  set  out  to  write  a  ballade  had  to  find  a  subject 
which  could  be  treated  in  a  kind  of  verse  distinguished  for 
its  rigid  and  repetitious  rime  scheme.  He  deliberately 
limited  his  range  of  ideas  by  his  decision  to  conform  to 
elaborate  restrictions.  Technique  was  distinctly  the  poet's 
problem.  The  success  of  his  ballade  depended  upon  his 
ability  to  temper  his  inspiration  to  a  type  of  poetry  that 
had  been  definitely  described.  If  we  are  charmed  by  the 
great  ballades  of  Chaucer  and  of  Villon,  of  Banville  and  of 
Swinburne,  it  is  because  these  poets  found  in  the  ballade  a 
form  uniquely  harmonious  with  certain  ideas  that  they 
wished  to  express. 


CONTENTS 

Page 

Preface vii 

Introduction xi 

CHAPTER  I 
Origins  op  the  Ballade 1 

CHAPTER  II 
The  Ballade  in  France  from  the  end  of  the  Four- 
teenth Century  to  the  middle  of  the  Seven- 
teenth Century 47 

CHAPTER  III 
The  Theory  op  the  Ballade  from  Deschamps  to 

BOILEAU 154 

CHAPTER  IV 
The  Middle  English  Ballade 222 

CHAPTER  V 
The  Ballade  in  the  Nineteenth  Century 300 

APPENDIX   I 
Poetry  composed  in  the  Puy 340 

APPENDIX   II 
The  Serventois   346 

APPENDIX  III 

The  Chant  Royal 352 

Bibliography   359 

Index 382 

xix 


THE  BALLADE 


CHAPTER   I 

ORIGINS   OF   THE    BALLADE 

Until  the  nineteenth  century,  the  words  ballad  and  bal- 
lade were  used  more  or  less  interchangeably  in  English. 
The  New  English  Dictionary^  discussing  the  history  of 
halade,  ballat,  ballad,  ballade,  and  cognate  forms,  refers 
them  to  the  late  Latin  ballare  (to  dance)  and  to  the  Pro- 
vencal balada.  In  our  current  usage,  both  ballad  and  bal- 
lade are  used  consistently  as -technical  terms;  the  first  is 
usually  applied  to  traditional  narrative  and  lyric  poetry, 
the  second  to  the  fixed  verse  form  which  is  the  subject  of  the 
present  inquiry.  The  earliest  example  given  in  the  New 
English  Dictionary  of  the  use  of  the  word  balade  in  Eng- 
lish is  in  the  Prologue  to  Chaucer's  Legend  of  Good  Women 
(1394),  where  it  is  employed  to  describe  the  three-stanza 
poem  imitated  from  the  French.  The  passage  in  question 
reads : 

"  And  after  that  they  wenten  in  compas, 
Daunsinge  aboute  this  flour  an  esy  pas, 
And  songen,  as  it  were  in  carole-wyse, 
This  balade,  which  that  I  shal  yow  devyse."^ 

Up  to  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  word,  whether 

1  W.  W.  Skeat,  The  Complete  Works  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer  (Oxford, 
1894),  Vol.  Ill,  p.  82:  Prologue  AG,  11.  199-202. 

2  1 


2  THE  BALLADE 

it  be  spelled  halade,  hallat,  hallad,  or  hcdlade,  is  associated 
by  English  writers  generally  with  song.  In  England,  in 
the  nineteenth  century,  poets  who  used  the  fixed  French 
verse  form  have  for  the  most  part  called  their  poems  bal- 
lades. In  Gleeson  White's  collection^  that  spelling  is  used. 
But  a  glance  at  the  table  of  contents  in  a  volume  of  Swin- 
burne's poems  will  show  that  even  at  the  present  day  hal- 
lad is  used  as  a  title  for  the  short  fixed  verse  form  derived 
from  the  French. 

The  word  balade,^  then,  appeared  in  England  at  the  end 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  was  originally  used  to  de- 
scribe the  imitation  of  the  French  lyric  with  fixed  form. 
Chaucer,  of  course,  is  likely  to  have  been  familiar  with  the 
Italian  word  hallata,  but  since  he  was  adapting  the  French 
art  form  he  naturally  took  over  the  native  term.  Balade 
continued  to  be  definitely  associated  with  songs  or  with 
lyric  poetry  in  England  until  the  nineteenth  century,  when 
one  variant,  ballade,  came  to  be  generally  connected  with  a 
specific  kind  of  lyric  poetry  and  another  variant,  ballad, 
with  traditional  narrative  and  lyric  poetry. 

In  France,  at  the  present  time,  the  same  word  ballade 
serves  for  the  English  or  Scottish  popular  ballad  and  for  a 
certain  kind  of  narrative  poem,  written  in  imitation  of  Ger- 
man authors  like  Uhland,  as  well  as  for  the  artificially  fixed 
lyric  poem.  It  is  plain,  however,  that  until  the  nineteenth 
century  there  was  no  necessity  in  France  for  pressing  the 
word  into  service  to  distinguish  any  kind  of  verse  but  the 
three-stanza  poem  with  fixed  rime-scheme  and  refrain.  The 
history  of  the  word,  therefore,  involves  the  history  of  the 
form  of  poetry  it  designates,  and  throws  some  light  on  the 
origin  of  the  form. 

The  New  English  Dictionary,  as  we  have  seen,  derived 

2  Gleeson  White,  Ballades  and  Bondeaus  (London,  1887). 

8  For  further  discussion  of  the  use  of  halade,  see  Chapter  IV. 


ORIGINS   OP   THE   BALLADE  3 

the  French  word  halade*  now  naturalized  in  England  in 
several  forms,  from  the  Provencal  halada.  The  earliest 
known  French  use  of  the  word  halade  is  to  be  found  in  a 
poem  of  the  trouvere  Hubert  Kaukesel,  who  flourished 
shortly  after  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  in  the 
lines  of  the  envoy : 

"  A  ma  dame,  harade  presenter 
Te  voil;  di  li  par  moi  sans  celer, 
Ke  de  sa  cose  empirier  et  grever 

N'est  ee  pas  cortoisie. 

Diex!  ki  a  hoine  amor, 

SHI  s'en  repent  nul  jor, 

II  fait  grant  villonie."^ 

This  form  harade  is  curious.  Paul  Meyer  has  told  us  that 
the  scribe  wrote  it  as  two  words,  hara-de,  as  though  he  were 
not  clear  in  his  own  mind  just  what  the  term  was.  The 
question  is,  did  he  transcribe  the  original  correctly,  or  did 
he  mistake  an  ''1"  for  an  ^'r"?^ 

Another  early  example  of  the  use  of  the  word,  the  next 
in  point  of  time,  indeed,  is  supplied  by  a  character  in  the 
Jeu  du  Pelerin,  composed  shortly  before  1300,  in  which 
Adan  de  la  Hale  is  mentioned : 

*  The  modern  spelling  in  both  English  and  French  is  with  two  1  's. 
^'Balade"  is  the  usual  spelling  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

5  P.  Meyer,  Bes  Bapports  de  la  Poesie  des  Trouveres  avec  celle  des 
Troubadours  (Romania,  1890),  p.  30. 

6  See  P.  Meyer,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  31 :  Barade,  as  Meyer  points  out, 
may  be  a  Gascon  form.  But  since  MS  fr.  844,  where  the  same  piece 
occurs,  is  mutilated  on  fol.  155  just  at  the  critical  point  in  the 
envoy,  we  cannot  be  sure.  Speaking  of  the  poem  from  which  the 
envoy  is  quoted,  he  says :  ' '  C  'est  bien  en  effet  une  ballade,  qui  toute- 
f  ois  a  cinq  couplets  et  non  trois. ' ' 


4  THE   BALLADE 

"...  savoit  canehons  f aire, 
Partures  et  motes  entes; 
De  che  fist-il  a  grans  plantes. 
Et  halades,  je  ne  sai  quantes."^ 

And  at  least  one  of  Adan's  chansons  has  every  character- 
istic of  the  ballade  before  the  envoy  was  added  and  the 
refi'ain  reduced.^ 

In  the  Dit  de  la  Panthere,  written  sometime  between 
1290  and  1328,^  the  author,  Nicole  de  Margival,  makes  use 
of  the  terms  halade  and  baladele  to  name  three-stanza 
poems  with  common  rimes  and  refrains.  Two  other  illus- 
trations of  the  early  use  of  the  word  appear,  one  in  the 
Roman  de  Faiivel  (c.  1313),  in  the  lines: 

"  Et  tout  autour  i  avoit  pointes 
Motez,  chansons,  halades,  maintes  "  ;^** 

the  other  in  the  Comte  d'  Anjou  (1316)  : 

"  Li  auquant  chantent  pastourelles, 
Li  autre  dient  en  vielles 
Changons  royaus  et  esterapies, 
Danses,  noctes  et  baleries. 


Lais  d'amours,  descors  et  halades, 
Pour  esbatre  ces  genz  malades."^*^ 

Before  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  a  three- 
stanza  poem  with  refrain  and  with  common  rimes  was  de- 
scribed in  northern  France  as  hallete,  if  we  may  rely  on 

7  E.  de  Coussemaker,  (Euvres  Completes  du  Trouvere  Adam  de  la 
Halle  (Paris,  1872),  p.  418. 

8  See  below. 

9  H.  A.  Todd,  Le  Dit  de  la  Panthdre  par  Nicole  de  Margival  (Paris, 
1883),  p.  xxvii. 

10  p.  Meyer,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  31. 


ORIGINS   OF   THE   BALLADE  0 

the  writer  of  MS.  Douce  308.  The  opinion  has  been  ad- 
vanced that  in  this  MS.  hallete  is  a  deliberate  formation  on- 
the  part  of  a  scribe  or  of  an  author.  The  word  seems  to 
have  been  a  compromise  between  hallade,  of  Provencal 
origin,^^  and  the  French  hallet,  a  diminutive  of  hal  meaning 
dance. ^^ 

Nothing  is  to  be  gained,  in  considering  the  origin  of  the 
hallade,  by  a  study  of  the  various  theories  advanced  con- 
cerning the  obscure  beginnings  of  the  Romance  lyric^^The 
hallade  has  no  mark  of  a  popular  origin,  if  we  except  its 
name — borrowed  probably  from  the  Provencal  halada, 
which  was  itself  an  artistic  and  not  a  folk  dance  song — and 
the  refrain,  which  is  associated  with  the  procedure  of 
choral  song.  It  has  been  conjectured  that  a  primitive  Ro- 
mance hallade, "^^  a  dance  song  in  three  stanzas,  may  have 

11  6.  Eckert,  Dher  die  hei  AltfranzosiscJien  Dichtern  V orkommenden 
Bezeichnungen  der  Eimelnen  Dichtungsarten  (Heidelberg,  1895),  p. 
15.  Cf.  E.  Stengel,  Der  Strophenausgang  in  den  Altesten  Franzosi- 
schen  Balladen  und  sein  Verhdltnis  zum  Befrain  und  Strophengrund- 
stocJc,  Zeitschrift  fiir  fr.  Sprache  u.  Literatur,  XVIII,  p.  86 :  "  Dazu 
kommt  nun  noch  dass  die  dritte  Strophe  eines  der  Lieder  (Nr.  14) 
unserer  Abteilung  beginnt '  Bcdaide,  sans  demoreir  Vai  ou  je  t'envoie,' 
also  die  sonst  iibliche  Bezeiehnung  verwendet.  SoUte  die  Form 
'ballete  daher  etwa  nur  eine  schlechte  Schreibung  fiir  halaide  sein?'' 

12  Examples  of  the  use  of  halader  are  given  in  Godefroy,  Biction- 
naire  de  I'Ancienne  Langue  Frangoise  (Paris,  1902),  Vol.  I,  p.  559. 

13  E.  Stengel,  AMeitung  der  Provenzalisch-franzosischen  Dansa- 
und  Virelay-Formen,  Zeitschrift  fiir  Bomanische  Sprache  und  Litera- 
tur, XVI,  p.  100.  Cf.  L.  Biadene,  La  Leggenda  dello  Sclavo  Dal- 
masino  (Bologna,  1894),  p.  24,  note:  "Cosieche  anehe  senza  es- 
tendere  le  ricerche  parra  lecito  eonchiudere  ehe  lo  schema  XX-AAAX 
di  versi  alessandrini  e  uno  degli  schemi  fondamentali,  se  pur  non  6 
lo  schema  fondamentale  della  Ballata  italiana,  anzi  si  dovra  forse  dire, 
della  Ballata  romanza."  Cf.  also,  F.  Flamini,  Studi  di  Storia  Let- 
teraria  Italiana  e  Straniera  (Livorno,  1895),  pp.  148-149. 

Analogues  of  the  hallade  are  found  in  other  Romance  languages. 
Cf.   A.  Jeanroy,  Les  Origines  de  la  Poesie  Lyrique  en  France  au 


6  THE   BALLADE 

been  the  archetype  from  which  the  Provencal  halada  and 
dansa,  and  the  French  ballete  and  ballade  sprang.  The 
theory  is  that  this  primitive  dance  song^*  was  probably 
composed  of  single  lines  of  text  alternating  with  a  re- 

Moyeii  Age  (Paris,  1904),  pp.  403-405:  ''Cette  forme  de  la  ballette 
[cf.  Bartsch,  ChrestomatMe,  546]  a  eu  beaucoup  de  succes  a  I'etranger: 
les  trois  quarts  des  pieces  portuguaises  du  recueil  du  Vatican,  tant  les 
chansons  purement  courtoises  que  les  pieces  semi-populaires,  sont  des 
ballettes  assez  librement  traitees. 

'  *  C  'est  elle  aussi  qu  'a  employee  la  lyrique  semi-populaire  de  1  'Italic 
de  la  fin  du  xiii*  au  xv*  siecle :  seulement  le  nombre  des  couplets  n  'est 
pas  limite,  le  refrain  ne  correspond  presque  jamais  exactement  k  la 
fin  du  couplet ;  il  n  'y  correspond  pas  du  moins  par  les  rimes,  dont  une 
seule  I'y  rattache,  et  ce  n'est  que  peu  k  peu  qu'on  s'astreignit  a  donner 
a  ses  vers  la  meme  dimension  qu '  aux  derniers  du  couplet.  La  denom- 
ination fran^aise  elle-meme  a  passe  les  Alpes.  Ces  pieces  reQoivent 
souvent  les  noms  de  hallata,  tallatetta,  hallatina,  canzonetta  ballatella 
(Cardueei,  [Cantilene  e  Ballate]  pp.  211,  213,  215,  219,  222,  et 
passim).  .  .  .  En  somme,  ces  pieces  italiennes  se  relient,  du  moins  par 
leur  forme,  aux  ballettes  f rangaises  du  xii^  et  xiii®  siecles. ' ' 

Consult  A.  Jeanroy,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  432-433,  for  the  dansa  in  Italy, 
Portugal,  and  Spain. 

An  early  word  on  these  relationships  is  spoken  on  p.  vi  of  the  Intro- 
duction in  K.  Bartsch,  DenJcmdler  der  ProvemaliscJien  Litteratur 
(Stuttgart,  1856). 

14  Cf.  E.  Stengel  in  G.  Groeber,  Grundriss  der  Eomanischen  PMlo- 
logie  (Strassburg,  1902),  II  Band,  1.  Abteilung,  p.  91:  "Die  italien- 
ische  ballata,  welcher  Dante  (De  vulg.  eloq.  II,  3)  den  Vorzug  vor  dem 
Sonett  zuerkennt,  zeigt  zumeist  denselben  Bau,  wie  die  analogen 
provenzalischen  und  altfranzosischen  volkstiimlichen  Dichtungen. 
Doch  zerfiillt  der  erste,  bedeutend  entwickeltere  Strophenteil  zumeist 
in  zwei  gleichartige  Absatze  von  je  zwei,  drei  oder  vier  Zeilen.  Darin 
ist  offenbar  eine  Einwirkung  der  Canzonenstrophe  zu  erkennen.  Die 
vorweg  geschickte  Bipresa  wird  bei  den  weiteren  Coblen  nicht  wieder- 
holt.  Meist  sind  die  ballate  uberhaupt  nur  einstrophig.  Petrarca  hat 
im  ganzen  sieben,  Dante  zehn  (darunter  aber  drei  unregelmjissige) 
verfasst.  .  .  .  Auch  in  Spanien  zeigen  schon  zwei  Bettellieder  des 
Erzpriesters  von  Hita  genau  denselben  Bau:  aa  ab  BB  (Vgl.  F. 
Wolf,  Studien,  8.  129  Anm.).'* 


ORIGINS   OF   THE   BALLADE  7 

frain.  In  course  of  time,  the  number  of  lines  was,  in 
all  likelihood,  increased,  and  one  or  more  of  them  made 
to  rime  with  the  refrain.  This  process  went  on  no  doubt 
because  verses  that  went  hand  in  hand  with  the  dance 
would  naturally  be  adapted  to  the  music.  The  repetition 
of  a  favorite  tune  would  compel  those  supplying  the  words 
to  furnish  successive  line  groups  necessarily  alike  in  struc- 
ture. The  building  up  of  a  dance  song  may  be  thus  de- 
scribed. To  provide  variety,  the  refrain  was  gradually  in- 
troduced into  the  stanza  itself.  But  at  first,  there  were  no 
rules  governing  either  the  form  of  the  refrain  or  its  place 
in  the  stanza;  only  the  exigencies  of  the  rime  in  any  way 
affected  its  position.  In  the  end,  however,  a  fixed  stanza 
was  developed,  a  stanza  of  eight  lines  in  which  the  first  line 
was  repeated  three  times  and  the  second  line  twice  :^^ 


SOLISTE, 

puis  Chceur: 

"  Hareu!  li  maus  d'amer 
M'ochist! 

SousTE : 

11  me  fait  desirer, 

Chceur  : 

Hareu,  li  maus  d'amer; 

SOLISTE : 

Par  un  douch  regarder 

Me  prist. 

Chceur  : 

Hareu!  li  maus  d'amer 

M'ochist."^^ 

It  can  not  be  definitely  said  that  the  ballade,  any  more  than 
several  other  verse  forms,  owes  its  origin  to  the  archetypal 
dance  song ^f pom  whioh  the  etanza  quo^ed-a/bove-'m-ay-  -hare 
beeB-  evol¥e4r  But  when  we  examine  the  development  of 
the  halada  of  Provence  and  the  hallete  of  northern  France, 
the  evolution  of  a  stanza  like  that  employed  in  the  early 

15  A.  Jeanroy  in  Petit  de  Julleville,  Histoire  de  la  Langue  et  la 
Litterature  Fran^aise  (Paris,  1896),  Tome  I,  p.  360. 

16  A.  Jeanroj,  Les  Origin^s  de  la  Foesie  Lyrique  en  France  au 
Moyen  Age  (Paris,  1904),  p.  406. 


8  THE  BALLADE 

ballades  is  reasonaMy  accounted  for  by  means  of  this  hy- 
pothesis,of  Jeangoy. 

In  Provencal,  the  halada  and  the  dansa,  in  all  prob- 
ability analogues  of  the  ballade,  must  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration. Bartsch  says :  * '  Both  consisted,  generally  speak- 
ing, of  three  stanzas  preceded  by  a  verse  unit  which  was 
repeated  in  the  manner  of  a  refrain  at  the  end  of  every 
stanza.  "^^ 

At  least  seven  Provencal  lyrics,  all  anonymous,  are  given 
the  designation  balada  in  the  manuscripts.^^  The  fact  that 
the  word  balade  appears  to  be  derived  from  the  Provencal 
balada  does  not  imply  that  there  is  any  direct  connection 
between  the  lyric  of  the  south,  the  surviving  examples  of 
which  show  only  slight  resemblances  to  one  another,  and 
the  fixed  form  developed  in  northern  France,  with  its  three 
stanzas,  persistent  rime-scheme,  and  refrain.  An  examina- 
tion of  the  balada  furnishes  conclusive  proof  that  in  Provence 

17  K.  Bartsch,  Grundriss  zur  GeschicMe  der  Provenzalischen  Literatur 
(Elberfeldt,  1872),  p.  35.  But  cf.  E.  Stengel,  Ableitung  der  Pro- 
vinzalisch-Franzosischen  Dansa-  und  der  Franzosischen  Virelay- 
Formen,  Zeitschrift  fiir  Franzosische  Sprache  und  Literature,  XVI, 
p.  97:  "keinen  zweifel  clariiber  dass  die  Dansa  als  eine  Abart  der 
Ballada  anzusehen  ist  und  zwar  der  Hauptsache  nach  jiingeres  Ge- 
prage  und  gekiinsteltere  Formen  als  diese  aufweist.  Nur  in  einem 
Punkte,  darin  namlieh,  dass  sie  die  Angleichung  des  Strophenab- 
schlusses  an  den  Strophenanfang  unterlasst,  stellt  sie  sich  als  Ab- 
kommling  gerade  der  alteaten  Balladenf orm  dar. ' ' 

18  K.  Bartsch,  Die  Provenzalische  Liederhandschnft  Q,  Zeitschrift 
fiir  Romanische  Philologie,  IV,  p.  503.  The  following  list  gives  the 
location  of  certain  examples  of  the  halada  in  the  manuscripts :  Codex 
Eiccardi  2909,  fol.  46,  ' '  Qvant  escaualcai  1  'autrer  " ;  fol  5a,  ' '  Morte 
man  li  semblan  q  ma  donam";  fol.  5f,  '^Damor  mestera  ben  e  gent"; 
fol.  6d,  ''Qvant  gilos  er  fora  bels  ami";  BiJ)liothdque  Nationale  Ms. 
fr.  20050,  fol.  79,  ''A  I'entrada  del  tems  clar";  Ms.  Vatican,  3206, 
fol.  105a,  "Pres  soi  ses  faillencha."  Codex  Eiccardi  2909  and  Ms. 
Vatican  3206  are  of  the  fourteenth  century;  Ms.  fr.  20050  is  of  the 
thirteenth  century. 


ORIGINS   OF   THE   BALLADE  9 

the  term  was  in  general  used  to  describe  almost  any  kind  of 
artistic  dance  song,  irrespective  of  form,  and  was  not  ap- 
plied to  any  one  variety. 

The  most  primitive  form  of  the  halada  is  thought  to  be 
gopcflcontod  bj  ^^Moit  m'ftB"li' oomblwa. '  '^® 

J*4»  a  three-stanza  poem,  riming  A  A  a  a  a  a,^^  in  which 
the  two-line  refrain  should,  according  to  Bartsch,  be  re- 
peated after  the  first  and  second  lines  of  each  stanza.  The 
most  primitive  feature  is  the  recurrence  of  the  same  rime 
throughout^^The  best  known  halada  is  the  one  which  be- 
gins "A  l^trada  del  tens  clar.''^^  This  spring  song,  re- 
frain apart,  exhibits  very  little  that  is  characteristic  of  the 
ballade  stanza,  though  the  refrain  was  at  first  perhaps  of 
two  lines  only.  According  to  Stengel,  the  'ballade  stanza 
was  first  plainly  indicated  in  "D'amor  m'estera,"^^  a  poem 
whose  rime-scheme  is  a  a  b  B  B,  with  the  refrain  repeated  in 
part  after  the  first  line  of  all  six  stanzas.  The  fundamental 
popular  ballade  scheme  may  have  been,  according  to  the 
same  authority,  B  B  a  a  b  B  B.  The  second  a-line  would, 
under  the  influence  of  the  opening  of  the  stanza,  be  modi- 
fied from  a  b-line,  so  that  originally  the  form  may  have  been 
B  B  a  b  b  B  B,  from  which  it  would  appear  that  the  stanza 
was  composed  of  what  the  Germans  call  a  stanza  nucleus 
(Strophengrundstock) ,  a,  and  a  stanza  conclusion  {Strophen- 
ausgang),  h,  which  was  built  on  the  analogy  of  the  refrain.^^ 

19  C.   Bartsch,   Chrestomathie  Provengale    (Elberfeldt,   1880),   243. 

20  In  the  indications  of  rime  schemes,  capitals  are  used  to  designate 
the  rimes  of  the  refrain. 

21  V.  Crescini,  Manualetto  Provenzale  (Verona-Padua,  1905),  p.  243. 

22  K.  Bartsch,  Chrestomathie  Provengale  (Elberfeld,  1880),  245. 

23  E.  Stengel  in  G.  Groeber  's  Grundriss  der  Bomanischen  Philologie, 
II,  1,  p.  89;  Stengel,  discussing  the  halada,  further  analyzes  the 
structure  of  ''Quant  lo  gilos"  and  ''Coindeta  sui''  {B.  Chr.  245-6)  : 
''Ebenso  verhalt  es  sich  bei  der  weit  volkstumlicheren  5-strophigen 
Ballade  Coindeta  sui    (B.   ChrA   245-6)    mit  dem   Strophenschema : 


10  THE  BALLADE 

y^i»Hhere  are  two  views  of  the  development  of  the  ballette 
stanza,  Jeanroy's  and  Stengel's.  Jeanroy,  though  he  be- 
lieves in  the  existence  of  Romance  lyrics,  sets  up  no  arche- 
typal ballade  as  progenitor  alike  of  halade  and  ballette. 
His  theory  is  that  the  ballette  stanza  borrowed  its  sophisti- 
cated form  from  the  clumson  savante  and  added  thereto  a 
refrain  which  was  joined  to  the  body  of  the  stanza  by  means 
of  another  line  riming  with  a  single  line  of  the  refrain  or 

a  a  ah  und  Eef  rain  B  B,  Die  Wiederholung  der  ersten  Eef  rainzeile 
naeh  der  ersten  Zeile  jeder  Strophe  halte  ich  auch  hier  fur  sekundar. 
Die  Strophenform  wird  hier  urspriinglich  B  B]aal)b  B  B  gelautet 
haben.  Charakteristisch  fur  die  spateren  Balladen  der  Provenzalen 
wie  Italiener,  und  aueh  fiir  die  ihnen  entsprechenden  altfranzosischen 
haletes,  ist  eben  die  konstante  Gewohnheit  den  Strophenabschluss  an 
den  Strophengrundstoek  derart  anzugleichen,  dass  der  Anfang  des 
ersteren  mit  dem  Schluss  des  letzteren  in  tJbereinstimmung  gebracht 
wird.  Jeanroy,  der  die  Balladenform  iiberhaupt  nicht  scharf  genug 
von  der  des  Rondel  u.  Virelai  sondert,  hat  diesen  Sachverhalt  ver- 
kannt.  Er  spricht  (S.  402)  von  einer  Verlangerung  der  Strophe 
'd'un  vers  ay  ant  la  meme  rime  que  le  refrain  tout  entier  ou  que 
I  'un  de  ses  vers.  *  Dass  meine  Auff assung  die  riehtige  ist,  ergibt  schon 
der  analoge  Bau  der  italienschen  Balladen,  ergibt  aber  auch  die  volks- 
tiimliche  3-Strophische  Ballade  Quant  lo  gilos  (B,  Gr.  461,  201,  gedr. 
Zs.  IV.,  503),  deren  Schema  lautet  ae  ag  as  bs  bj-f- Refrain  Bio  B3. 
Scheinbar  lasst  sich  hier  die  Abweiehung  des  Strophenabschlusses  vom 
Refrain  bef riedigend  nur  auf  Jeanroy  'sche  Weise  erklaren,  die  zweite 
B-Zeile  ware  einfach  angefiigt,  wegen  B5  des  Refrains.  (Sonderbar 
genug  f asst  Jeanroy  aber  dies  Schema  ganz  anders  auf,  namlich  als  a«  a, 
ao  bg  B,o  B5  und  will,  indeni  er  auf  die  Wiederholung  der  ersten  Re- 
frainzeile  nach  der  ersten  und  zweiten  Zeile  jeder  Strophe  Wert  legt, 
dieses  wie  die  beiden  letztgenaunteu  Gedichte,  als  frei  behandelte 
Rondels  auffassen,  obwohl  gerade  diese  drei  sich  im  Texte  ausdruck- 
lich  selbst  also  Balladen  bezeichnen;  Vgl.  Abschn.  202,  203).  Aber 
wie  ware  dann  die  erste  b-Zeile  zu  erklaren?  Das  Ratsel  lost  sich, 
wenn  wir  sie  mit  der  dritten  d-Zeile  zu  einen  10-Silbner  mit  schwach- 
em  archaischen  Reihenschluss  kombinieren.  Durch  Binnenreim  wurde 
dieser  zerlegt  um  so  die  erforderliche  Angleichung  des  Strophen- 
abschlusses   an    den    Strophengrundstoek    nich    nur   hinsichtlich    des 


ORIGINS  OF   THE   BALLADE  11 

with  the  whole  refrain.  He  believes  that  the  number  of 
syllables  in  the  line  that  joined  the  refrain  with  the  rest  of 
the  stanza  was  not  necessarily  altered  to  conform  to  the 
number  in  the  refrain.     On  the  contrary,  the  connection 

Reimes,  sondern  auch  hinsichtlich  der  Versart  zu  ermoglichen.  ae  as  b( 
bs  Bio  Bg  ist  also  abgeandert  aus  a^  sl^  bio  \  Bw  Bb.  Der  Text  der 
ersten  Strophe  mag  das  veransehaulichen : 

*'Ballada  cointa  e  gaia 
Faz  cui  pes  ne  cui  plaia 
Pel  doez  cant  qui  m'apaia;|  Queus  audi 

Seir  e  de  mati. 
Quant  lo  gilos  er  fora,  bels  ami, 

Venes  vos  a  mi. '^ 

Jeanroy's  theory,  in  part  challenged  by  Stengel,  should  be  here 
given.  It  is  found  in  Les  Origines,  pp.  397-402  passim:  *'La  forme 
la  plus  simple  et  la  plus  ancienne  de  toutes  etait  composee  de 
couplets  que  chantait  un  soliste  et  que  suivait  un  refrain  repris 
par  le  choeur  .  .  .  le  couplet  y  est  de  trois,  quatre  ou  cinq  vers 
sur  une  meme  assonance,  et  ces  differentes  dimensions  correspondent 
probablement  a  des  epoques  differentes.  Quand  au  refrain  il  a  pu  se 
composer  a  1  'origine  d  'onomatopees  ou  de  syllabes  imitant  le  son  d  'un 
instrument  de  musique  .  .  .  Mais  on  eut  de  bonne  heure,  I'idee  de 
rattaeher  le  refrain  au  couplet  par  la  rime:  pour  cela  on  enleva  au 
refrain  son  premier  vers  rimant  avec  le  second,  et  on  le  fit  rimer  avec 
le  couplet:  le  chceur  etait  ainsi  averti  du  moment  ou  son  role  allait 
commencer.  (aaabB)  .  .  .  Un  perfectionnement  de  cette  forme 
consiste  a  couper  le  refrain  en  deux  parties  qui  riment  respective- 
ment  avec  les  premiers  et  le  dernier  vers  du  couplet  (aaabAB) 
.  .  .  Mais  dans  le  chanson  a  danser  proprement  dite,  il  n'en  est  point 
comme  dans  la  strophe  dont  il  vient  d'etre  question:  le  refrain  y 
subsiste  toujours,  et  n'est  jamais  remplace  par  deux  vers  ordinaires. 
Sa  forme  la  plus  habituelle  etait  done  un  couplet  monorime  suivi  d'un 
refrain  qui  y  etait  r attache  d'une  fagon  quelconque.  .  .  .  Elle  [la 
ballette]  ne  s'en  tint  pas  non  plus  aux  strophes  monorimes,  qui  paru- 
rent  sans  doubt  monotones:  elle  emprunta  aux  chanson  leur  formes 
savantes,  et  fit  suivre  les  couplets  d'un  refrain  qu'elle  y  rattacha 
ordinairement  en  allongeant  ceux-ci  d  'un  vers  ayant  la  meme  rime  que 
le  refrain  tout  entier  ou  que  I'un  de  ses  vers." 


12  THE   BALLADE 

between  the  stanza  and  the  refrain  was  often  made  in  an 
exceedingly  loose  way.  Stengel,  on  the  other  hand,  postu- 
lates the  archetypal  ballade,  which  he  describes  as  a  three- 
stanza  form  in  which  the  stanzas  show  plainly  the  three- 
fold division  of  stanza  nucleus,  stanza  conclusion,  and  re- 
frain. He  holds,  moreover,  that  in  the  hallade  stanza,  that 
is,  the  stanza  of  the  halade  or  ballet e,  there  was  a  sharp 
separation  alike  between  the  stanza  nucleus  {Strophen- 
gxumhtoek)  and  the  end  of  the  ^J-^-nv^  /!^^^^pi^^^nhonhi'^i<^^j 
Originally,  he  believes,  the  end  of  the  stanza  corresponded 
exactly  to  the  refrain,  but  was,  in  the  majority  of  cases, 
made  similar  to  the  stanza  nucleus.  Then  the  stanza 
nucleus  was  itself  divided  into  two  parts,  each  of  which  at 
first  consisted  of  one  line.  As  these  lines  became  longer, 
the  tendency  was  for  them  to  break  into  shorter  lines,  and 
thus  the  two  halves  of  the  stanza  nucleus  became  longer. 
In  the  same  way  the  number  of  lines  in  the  end  of  the 
stanza  (Sirophonaus^ng)  and  in  the  refrain  multiplied. 
Briefly,  where  Jeanroy  sees  a  deliberate  attempt  to  con- 
nect an  isolated  refrain,  sung  originally  by  a  chorus,  with 
a  line  or  with  several  lines,  sung  by  soloists,  Stengel  recog- 
nizes a  stanza  nucleus  and  a  stanza  conclusion,  the  latter 
corresponding  in  form  with  the  refrain  and  tending  to  be- 
come less  like  the  refrain  and  more  like  the  stanza  nucleus.-"* 

24  E.  Stengel,  Der  Strophenausgang  in  den  Altesten  Franzosischen 
Balladen  und  sein  Verhdltniss  zum  JRefraiji  und  Strophengrundstoclc, 
in  Zeitschrift  fiir  Franzosische  Sprache  u.  Litteratur,  XVIII,  p.  113. 
See  this  article  passim  for  evidence  with  which  Stengel  supports  his 
theory.  Ph.  Aug,  Becker,  in  a  review  of  F.  Noack's  Der  Strophen- 
ausgang, etc.,  in  LitteraUirblatt  fiir  Germanisclie  u.  EomaniscTie  Phi- 
lologie  (1902),  p.  143,  summarizing  the  theories  of  Stengel  and  of 
Noack,  who  follows  him,  writes:  '^Diese  Eigenart  der  Ballette,  die 
auch  den  Eeigen  der  anderen  romanischen  Nationen  nicht  fremd 
gewesen  zu  sein  scheint,  begreift  sich  leicht  aus  dem  Umstand  das 
der  Chor  auf  dem  Sologesang  mit  einem  Eundtanz  antwortete,  wobei 


ORIGINS   OF   THE   BALLADE  13 

The  date  of  the  various  specimens  of  the  hcddda,  in  con- 
nection with  which  the  subject  of  the  general  ballade  stanza 
has  been  examined,  cannot  definitely  be  assigned ;  their  form 
and  language  point  to  the  end  of  the  twelfth  and  the  be- 
ginning of  the  thirteenth  century^r  As  to  the  dansa,  an- 
other Provencal  form  of  three  stanzas  connected  with  the 
ballade,  examples  are  given  in  Las  Joy  as  del  Gay  Saber. ^^ 
They  had  been  presented  at  the  Poets'  Court  at  Toulouse 
from  1451-1471.  In  every  stanza  there  is  a  group  of  lines 
that  do  not  rime  with  the  refrain  and  a  group  of  lines  that 
do.  In  the  collection  there  are  only  two  specimens  where 
the  last  line  of  the  refrain  is  repeated  at  the  close  of  each 

stanza  and  of  the  tornada.     One  of  these  is  as  follows : 

1*1 
Dansa  d' Amors  am  Refranh         ^  ^X>-  -  ' 

"  Neyt  et  jom,  dins  en  la  pessa 
Ne  m  puesc  tenir  d^alegrar, 

er  den  Schlusstheil  der  vorgesungenen  Melodie  wiederholte;  sein  Re- 
frain musste  demgemass  mit  dem  Strophenausgang  in  der  Lange  und 
Disposition  der  Verszeilen  genau  iibereinstimmen.  Der  Eeim  hingegen 
hatte  im  Grunde  nun  mnemonischen  Wert;  eine  teilweise  Aufgabe  der 
Gleiehheit  war  also  von  geringerem  Belang,  so  lange  sie  das  Reim- 
geschlecht  nicht  beriihrte;  ein  Gleichklang  reichte  am  Ende  aus.  Die 
Aenderung  der  Versform  bedeutet  hingegen  den  Verzicht  auf  die 
gleiche  Melodie  und  lasst  sicher  auf  einer  Verliterarisierung  des 
Tanzliedes  schliessen. ' ' 

25  The  rules  for  the  dansa  given  in  the  Leys  d' Amors  (1356)  are: 
*'La  danse  est  un  ditie  gracieux  qui  contient  un  refrain,  c'est  k  dire 
un  repons,  seulement,  et  trois  couplets  semblables  k  la  fin,  pour  la 
mesure  comme  pour  les  rimes,  au  repons;  et  la  tornada  doit  etre 
pareille  au  repons;  et  le  commencement  de  chaque  couplet  doit  etre 
ie  meme  mesure,  et  au  choix,  sur  les  memes  rimes  ou  sur  des  rimes 
differentes;  mais  ces  rimes  doivent  etre  enti^rement  diff^rentes  de 
eelles  du  repons.  .  .  .  Le  repons  doit  etre  de  la  mesure  d'un  demi- 
couplet,  a  deux  vers  prds  en  plus  ou  en  moins.  Les  vers  de  la  danse  ne 
doivent  pas  depasser  huit  syllabes. "  [Translation  from  Provencal 
found  in  P.  Meyer,  Les  Derniers  Troubadours  de  la  Provence  (Paris, 
1871),  p.  114.] 


r^V 


14  THE  BALLADE 

Quant  my  sove  la  noblessa    t?  v'^ 
De  la  Flor  que  m  fay  pensar. 
En  mon  joven  me  comensa 
Amors  de  far  mortalz  joes; 
Tant  m'art  he  'mflama  sos  foes,  (I 
Que  n  passi  greu  penedensa,      - 
Dolor  mortal  e  destressa,      r^^ 
Et  no  puesc  alz  cossirar, 
Sino  que  la  gentilessa 
De  la  Flor  que  m  fay  pensar. 

Helas!  no  m  puese  ben  deffendre 

Que  ne  senta  la  dolor 

Que  passi  per  fin*  amor, 

Don  cuda  lo  mieu  cor  f  endre, 

Dolens  et  plens  de  tiistessa. 

Qui  no  cessa  de  plorar, 

Per  tal  sos  volers  aguessa 

De  la  Flor  que  m  fay  pensar. 

Prec  humilment,  test'  enelina, 
Eysausisqua  men  desir. 
Car,  ne  y  a  plus  medecina 
Per  me  far  tost  engausir; 
No's  creatura  que  sabessa 
Antra  milhor  cogitar, 
Que  surmontes  la  princessa 
De  la  Flor  que  m  fay  pensar. 

Tornada 

Ma  blancha  Flors  e  mestressa, 
Sus  trastot  quan  es  ses  par, 
Datz  me  1  secors  e  I'endressa 
De  la  Flors  que  m  fay  pensar."^® 

2«  A.  F.  Gatien-Arnoult,  Monumens  de  la  Littcrature  Eomane  (Paris- 
Toulouse,  1841-1849),  Vol.  IV,  Las  Flors  del  Gay  Saber,  p.  214. 


ORIGINS   OF   THE   BALLADE  15 

Other  specimens  of  the  dansa  show,  in  those  parts  of  the 
poem  where  the  refrain  would  come  in  the  ballade  stanza, 
end-words  with  the  same  rime,  but  no  recurring  burden,  as 
may  be  seen,  for  example,  in  the  Dansa  de  Nostra  Dona.^"^ 
Other  examples  of  the  dansa  might  be  cited  to  establish  its 
place  in  the  ballade  family. 

The  Old  French  analogue  of  the  halade,  as  we  have  said, 
was  the  hallette.  At  least  one  hundred  and  eight  of  these 
hallettes,  so-called,  are  contained  in  a  single  manuscript, 
which  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  only  place  where  the 
word  has  been  discovered.-®  The  surviving  hallettes,  like 
the  surviving  examples  of  the  halada,  are  not,  in  reality, 
popular  poetry.  Alfred  Jeanroy,^^  generously  answering 
some  inquiries  of  mine,  wrote  me,  under  the  date  of  23 
July,  1910:  *'I  have  not  found  any  ballades  earlier  than 
those  generally  known,  but  I  have  tried  to  show  that  the  re- 
frains interpolated  in  certain  chansons,  pastourelles  and 
elsewhere  belonged  originally  to  chansons  a  danser  or  bal- 
lettes.  ...  I  am  firmly  persuaded  that  the  ballettes  (those 
in  the  Oxford  Ms.  and  the  others,  too)  were  sung ;  that  they 
w^ere  sung  is  proved  by  those  texts  in  which  the  refrains 
(these  refrains  being  fragments  of  ballettes)  seem  to  regu- 
late the  dance  as  in  Guillaume  de  Dole,  for  example. '* 

The  fragments  of  dance  songs  that  are  left  are  not  older 
than  the  thirteenth  century.  They  are  to  be  found  in  the 
romans  aristocratiques,  like  Guilluume  de  Dole  or  La  Vio- 
lette,  that  describe  seigneurial  celebrations,  or  in  chan- 
sons, motets,  and  pastourelles,  upon  which  these  fragments 
are  grafted  in  the  manner  of  refrains.     While  the  dance 

2r  A.  F.  Gatien-Arnoult,  Opus.  Cit.,  Vol.  IV,  pp.  205-207. 

28  Bodleian  Ms.  Douce  308. 

29  I  was  enabled  to  correspond  with  M.  Jeanroy  through  the  kind 
offices  of  M.  Joseph  Bedier,  who  was  visiting  New  York  in  the  spring 
of  1910. 


16  THE   BALLADE 

songs  of  the  thirteenth  century  reflect  the  manner  of  the 
old  popular  dance  songs  of  the  peasants,  it  is  certainly  true 
that  in  the  form  in  which  we  know  them,  the  form  given 
them  by  courtly  poets,  the  form  that  was  made  to  accom- 
pany the  dance  in  the  halls  of  great  nobles,  they  were  aristo- 
cratic and  not  popular.^'*  The  repetition  of  a  refrain  in 
these  popular  Old  French  dance  songs  was  suggested,  of 
course,  by  the  repetition  of  identical  movements  in  the 
dances  they  accompanied.  In  the  extant  refrains,  recog- 
nized as  fragments  of  an  older,  though  only  rarely  of  a  folk 
poetry,  the  allusions  to  the  dance  are  innumerable.^^  The 
oldest  text  to  contain  such  refrains  is  Guillaume  de  Dole, 
written  between  1210  and  1215.^^  ^i^g  roman  is  inter- 
spersed with  lyric  fragments.^^  Similar  lyric  fragments 
came  to  serve  as  refrains  in  the  ballettes. 

The  French  analogue  of  the  hcdada  is,  as  noted,  the  hal- 

30  Joseph  Bedier,  Les  Plus  Anciennes  Danses  Frangaises,  Hevue  de 
Deux  Mondes,  January  15,  1906,  p.  424.  Cf.  also  Jeanroy,  Les 
Origines,  p.  113:  **Nos  refrains  ne  sont  que  de  fragments,  mais  ils 
jouaient  dans  les  morceaux  auxquels  ils  appartenaient,  le  role  de  nos 
refrains  actuels,  et  ils  y  etaient  repete  (k  Torigine  probableraent  par 
ce  choeur  repondant  au  soliste).  Cast  ce  qui  explique  qu'ils  se  soient 
imprimes  plus  profondement  dans  la  memoire,  et  qu'ils  aient  seuls 
survecu. ' ' 

31  See  Jeanroy,  Les  Origines,  pp.  394-396. 

32  Godef roy,  Dictionnaire  de  L'Ancienne  Langue  Frangaise  (Paris, 
1898),  Vol.  1,  p.  559,  quotes  under  Bal: 

Souz  un  chastel  q'en  apele  Biaucler 

En  mont  poi  d'eure  i  ot  granz  bauz  levez: 

Cez  damoiseles  i  vont  por  caroler, 

Cil  escuier  i  vont  por  bohorder, 

Cil  chevalier  i  vont  por  esgarder. 

((?.  de  Bole,  Vat.  Chr.,  725,  f.  89.) 

88  Jeanroy,  Les  Origines,  pp.  115-116. 


ORIGINS   OP  THE  BALLADE  17 

lette.^*  In  the  hallette  are  embedded,  as  we  have  just  said, 
some  of  the  older  refrains.  In  the  course  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  hallette,  we  find  the  stanza  progressing  from 
one  rime  to  several,  whether  the  method  be  that  described 
by  Stengel  or  Jeanroy ;  we  observe,  too,  a  strong  tendency 
to  reduce  the  number  of  stanzas  to  three.    The  ballettes  of 

34  p.  Meyer,  Documents  Manuscrits  de  VAncienne  Litterature  de  la 
France  Conserves  dans  les  Bihliotheques  de  la  Grande-Bretagne  (Paris, 
1871),  pp.  150-154  passim: 

*'Le  manuscrit,  Douce  308  est  un  volume  in-folio  de  297  feuillets, 
ecrit  par  diverses  mains,  et  a  ce  qu'il  semble,  vers  le  second  quart  du 
XIV*  sieele.  La  premiere  partie  du  moins,  qui  contient  les  Voeux  du 
Paon,  ne  saurait  etre  anterieure  a  1312.  II  a  du  etre  execute  en  Lor- 
raine, car  il  off  re  d'un  fagon,  passablement  marquee  les  caract^res  du 
dialecte,  de  cette  province.  .  .  .  Ce  qui  donne  la  plus  grande  import- 
ance au  manuscrit  Douce  308,  c'est  le  recueil  de  poesies  lyriques  qui 
s  'y  trouve  compris.  .  .  .  Le  manuscrit  Douce  est  le  seul  qui  ait  adopte 
le  classment  par  genres.  .  .  .  ce  qui  est  interessant  c'est  I'idee  du 
classement  et  non  son  execution.  Cette  idee  est  celle  d'un  homme 
curieux  et  exact,  ayant  dej^  le  sentiment  de  la  critique.  Que  cet 
homme  soit  le  scribe  qui  a  execute  le  manuscrit  ou  un  autre,  e'est  ce 
que  nous  ne  pouvous  guere  savoir;  mais  il  y  a  apparence  que  I'auteur 
d  'un  tel  classement  vivait  plutot  au  XlVe  si^cle  qu  'au  Xllle,  et  cette 
presomption  se  change  en  certitude  s'il  est  vrai  que  I'une  des  pieces 
du  recueil  n  'est  pas  anterieure  a  1320. 

'  *  Une  autre  remarque  qui  a  son  importance  est  que  ce  recueil  a  ete 
fait  dans  une  intention  purement  litteraire,  pour  etre  lu  et  non  pour 
etre  chante.  De  tous  les  chansonniers  frangais  il  est,  je  crois,  le  seul 
qui  ne  soit  pas  note.  En  cela  il  ressemble  aux  chansonniers  proven- 
gaux,  qui  k  une  exception  pr6s,  sont  egalement  depourvus  de  notation 
rausicale. ' ' 

Cf .  also  E.  A.  Meyer,  Franzosische  Lieder  aus  der  Florentiner  Hand- 
schrift,  Beihefte  zur  Zeitschrift  fiir  Bomanische  Philologie,  8  Heft 
(Halle,  1907),  p.  37:  "E.  Stengel  hat  .  .  .  nachgewiesen,  dass  die 
Bezeichnung  "Ballette'^  auf  recht  schwachen  Fiissen  steht,  indem 
die  Wortf orm  * '  ballette ' '  nur  einmal  in  der  HS  Douce  308  vorkommt. 
Daneben  ist  einmal  in  derselben  HS.  die  Form  ' '  balaide ' '  belegt, 
.  .  .  Es  ist  mehr  als  zweifelhaft  ob  die  Form  "ballette"  ein  alt- 
f ranzosisches  Wort  ist. ' ' 
3 


18  THE  BALLADE 

the  Douce  MS.  appear  to  belong  to  about  the  middle  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  although  at  least  one  of  the  ballettes 
may  be  as  late  as  1320.  In  these  poems  it  is  certain  that  the 
refrain  was  repeated  at  the  end  of  every  stanza,  though 
the  manuscripts  rarely  show  this  repetition  because  scribes 
were  most  economical  with  their  parchment.  The  manu- 
scripts that  contain  ballettes  ordinarily  place  the  refrain  at 
the  head  of  the  piece  (doubtless  it  was  in  reality  sung  and 
taken  up  in  chorus  at  the  beginning) ;  then  the  refrain  is 
sometimes  repeated,  often  entire,  at  the  end  of  the  last 
stanza;  and  the  first  few  words  of  the  refrain  are  occa- 
sionally given  at  the  end  of  the  first  and  second  stanzas. 
The  place  of  the  refrain  is  plainly  indicated,  however,  by 
the  fact  that  the  last  line  of  every  stanza  has  a  rime  corre- 
sponding with  the  refrain  rime.^^ 

What  appears  to  be  one  of  the  earliest  ballettes,  in  point 
of  form,  is  reprinted  below. 

^v  "  Amors  ne  se  donne  mais  elle  se  uant.    il  nest  nuns  ki 
^jjV'*      soit  ameis  si  nait  argent. 

I  Cil  est.  .1.  uiellars  pansus.  tezis  deuant.  et  kil  ait 
estei  truans  tot  son  uiuant.  cil  ait  aikes  a  doner  on  i 
antant.    et  lautre  lait  on  aler  qui  point  ni  tant. 

II  Ceu  puet  on  moult  bien  prouer  certainnejl  ment. 
Car  il  nest  nuns  ki  tant  ainme  loialment.  cil  nait  pooir 
de  doneir  ki  puist  niant.  an  amor  monteplier  de  son 
talant. 

35Jeanroy,  Les  Origines,  p.  402,  Cf.  E.  Stengel  Die  Refrains  der 
Oxf order  Ballettes,  Ztschr.  fiir  Fr.  Spr.  und  Lit.,  XXVIII,  p.  72: 
**Dass  die  Voranstellung  des  Eef rains  nichts  besonderes  zu  besagen 
hat,  zeigen  Doppeltexte  [in  the  Douce  MS.]  wie  11  (=115),  15 
(=117),  wo  derselbe  Eef  rain  ein  Mai  nur  am  Strophensehluss,  ein 
Mai  nur  im  Eingang  geschrieben  ist. " 


ORIGINS   OF   THE  BALLADE  19 

III  Leaulteis  est  tote  morte  simplement.  an  feme  son 
li  aporte  elle  lou  prant.  Qui  nait  riens  noist  a  la  porta 
a  uuelz  lou  uant.    en  si  desoiuent  les  femes  bone  gent."^® 

The  stanza  form  of  this  ballette  is  similar  to  that  of  a 
chanson  pieuse  in  MS.  fr,  12483,  **Pour  s 'amour  ai  en 
douleur  lone  temps  este."  Both  the  ballette  and  the  chanson 
pieuse  probably  had  the  same  model.^^ 

The  refrains  of  the  ballettes  in  the  Oxford  manuscript 
have  been  grouped  in  six  classes  by  Stengel.^^  In  the  first 
class,  he  places  those  refrains  that  occur  at  the  end  of  the 
stanzas  and  not  at  the  beginning  of  the  whole  poem.  The 
idea  seems  to  be  that  a  refrain  like  this  is  more  intimately 
connected  with  the  sense  of  each  stanza.  In  the  second  group 
of  refrains,  he  places  those  that  have  no  connection  with  the 
stanzas  in  sense,  but  are  expressions  of  the  lover's  emotion. 
The  third  class  is  much  like  the  second  in  containing  a 
variety  of  refrains  that  are  nothing  more  than  terms  of 
endearment.  The  fourth  class,  too,  includes  the  lover's 
exclamations,  rhetorical  questions,  or  a  statement  of  his  de- 
sires. In  the  fifth  class,  Stengel  includes  refrains  that  are 
also  common  maxims.  And  in  the  sixth  group,  he  places 
utterances  of  girls  and  of  women. 

Other  ballettes  which  belong  to  the  last  half  of  the  twelfth 
century,  and  are  therefore  older  than  those  of  the  Douce 
MS.  are  contained  in  a  Florentine  manuscript.^^     Here  are 

36  George  Steffens,  Die  Altfranzosische  Liederhandschrift  der  Bod- 
leiana  in  Oxford,  Douce  308,  Herrig's  Archiv  fiir  das  Studium  der 
Neueren  Sprachen  (Braunschweig,  1897),  Vol.  99,  p.  343. 

37  A.  Jeanroy,  Les  Chansons  pieuses  du  MS.  fr.  1B483  de  la  BihUo- 
theque  Nationale,  Melanges  Wilmotte  (Paris,  1910),  p.  255.  Other 
chansons  in  this  collection  exhibit  an  early  form  of  the  hallette 
stanza.     See  pp.  261,  265. 

38  G.  Steffens,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  339,  340,  342,  343,  372,  377. 

39  R.  A.  Meyer,  Franzosische  Lieder  aus  der  Florentiner  Hand- 
schrift  Strozzi-Magliahecchiana  cl.  vii,  1040  (Halle,  1907),  p.  37. 


20  THE   BALLADE 

found  specimens  of  the  two  types  of  songs  with  refrain, 
the  kind  in  which  the  close  of  the  stanza  is  structurally 
connected  with  the  refrain,  and  the  kind  in  which  the 
refrain  appears  to  be  independent  of  any  part  of  the 
stanza.  R.  A.  Meyer,  the  latest  editor  of  the  manuscript, 
believes  that  the  structure  of  early  Latin  hymns  is  re- 
sponsible for  the  Romance  songs  with  refrain,  and  his 
answer  to  Stengel's  theory  is  that  the  similarity  between 
the  close  of  the  stanza  and  the  refrain,  far  from  betokening 
a  development  earlier  than  the  stanza  where  the  refrain  is 
structurally  independent,  really  may  indicate  a  more  prim- 
itive state  of  things.  He  presents  for  examination  hymns 
where  similarity  between  the  close  of  the  stanza  and  the 
refrain  is  obviously  not  obligatory. 

As  an  example  of  what  may  have  led  to  the  stanza  of  the 
hallette,  Meyer  cites  the  following  hymn : 

1.  "Veris  ad  imperia 

R^nascuntur  omnia, 
Amoris  prooemia 
Corda  premunt  saucia 
Quaerula  melodia 

Gratia  praevia, 

Corda  marcentia 

Media. 
Vitae  vernat  flos 
Intra  nos. 

2.  Suspirat  luscinia, 
Nostra  sibi  conscia 
Impetrent  suspiria, 
Quod  sequatur  venia, 
Dirige,  vitae  via, 

Gratia  praevia, 
Viae  dispendia 
Gravia. 


21 


ORIGINS   OF   THE  BALLADE 

Yitae  vernat  flos 
Intra  nos."*® 

Of  the  two  hallettes  quoted  immediately  below  from  the 
Florentine  manuscript,  the  first,  according  to  Meyer,  shows 
a  stanza  conclusion  harmonizing  with  the  refrain,  whereas 
the  second  shows  that  the  end  of  the  stanza  has  been  as- 
similated to  the  stanza  nucleus. 

"  De  quant  hone  ore  fu  nes 
chi  s'amie  tient  au  pre 
en  Verba  giolie! 

I. 

^  Or  ma  tres  douse  amie, 
dieus  voiis  dont  le  bon  giort; 

40  G.  M.  Dreves  and  C.  Bliime,  Analecta  Hymnica  Medii  Mvi 
(Leipzig,  1886  ff),  XXI,  No.  40.  Cf.  R.  A.  Meyer,  Franzosische 
Lieder  aus  der  Florentiner  Handschrift  Strozzi-Maglidbecchiana  cl. 
vii,1040  (Halle,  1907),  pp.  35-36:  '' Wir  haben  jedenfalls  den  Refrain 
als  ein  der  romischen  Kunstpoesie  unbekanntes  Stilmittel  zu  bezeich- 
nen.  Ob  der  Refrain  in  der  romischen  Volkspoesie  vorhanden  war, 
dariiber  wissen  wir  nichts.  Wenn  wir  nun  nachweisen  konnen,  dass 
die  Formen  derRefraingediclite,  wie  sie  uns  in  franzosiseher  Spraehe 
zuerst  am  1200  (Guillaume  de  Dole)  iiberliefert  werden,  mit  alter 
iiberlieferten  Formen  der  lateinischen  Kirehenpoesie  in  allerengste  Ver- 
bindung  stehen,  wie  ja  eiue  absolute  Zusammengehorigkeit  der  Melo- 
dieen  die  Uber  diesen  franzosischen  und  lateinisehen  Texten  stehen, 
nicht  geleugnet  wird,  wenn  wir  ferner  glauben  diirfen,  nachweisen  zu 
konnen,  dass  die  erwahnten  lateinisehen  Gedichte  ihre  Formen  nicht 
von  hypothetischen  '  urromanischen  Ref raingedichten '  sondern  aus 
anderer  Quelle  erhalten  haben,  so  wird  sich  die  Theorie,  welche  die 
Formen  der  seit  1200  iiberlieferten  Refraingedichte  auf  eine  ur- 
romanische  Grundlage  zuriickfiihrt,  als  anfechtbar  erweisen.  Dabei 
bleibt  natiirlieh  unbestreitbar,  dass  in  friiherer  Zeit  vielleicht  einmal 
franzosische  volkstiimliche  Gedichte  existiert  haben,  die  formal  mit 
vulgarlateinischen  Liedern  in  Zusammenhang  standen,  doeh  wir  wissen 
nichts  von  solchen  Gedichten. ' ' 


22  THE   BALLADE 

vos  estes  avisea, 
se  n'amaris  o  non  ?  * 

*  Nani  voyr,  mon  dous  amis, 
le  parti  en  est  tout  pris : 

ne  vos  amerai  mie/ 
Be  quant  hone  ore  fu  nes 
chi  s^amie  tient  au  pre 

en  Verba  giolie! 

II. 

*  Or  ma  tres  douse  amie, 
era  a  dieu  vos  chomant, 
ge  vos  ai  .  .  .  servie 

e  ame  mot  lielmant/ 

'  II  est  voir,  mon  dous  amis, 

Vos  etes  gay  e  giolis, 

e  ge  sui  plus  jolie/ 
De  quant  hone  ore  fu  nes 
chi  s'amie  tient  au  pre 
en  Verha  giolie! 

III. 

Quant  ge  le  vi  .  .  . 
sur  son  cival  monter, 
e  sendre  s'espeia, 
ses  gans  glans  enformer: 
En  sospirant  ge  li  dis: 

*  revenes,  mon  dous  amis, 

ge  serai  vostre  amie/ 
De  quant  hone  ore  fu  nes 
chi  s'amie  tient  au  pre 

en  Verha  giolie!  "*^ 

"  Per  ont  m'en  iroye, 
ma  douse  dame, 
se  aler  m'en  voldroief 

41  R.  A.  Meyer,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  42,  No.  Y 


ORIGINS  OP  THE  BALLADE  23 

I. 

Se  je  m'en  voy  par  les  cians, 

les  ciardons  i  sont  trop  grans: 

Je  me  ponheroie, 

ma  douse  dame, 

se  aler  m'en  voldroye! 

II. 

Si  je  m'en  voy  par  les  boys, 

les  boysons  i  sont  estroys: 

Je  me  mangeroye, 

ma  douse  dame, 

se  aler  m'en  voldroye! 

III. 

Se  je  m'en  voy  par  le  pre 
mes  clauses  sont  semeles: 
Je  me  hanheroye, 
ma  douse  dame, 
s'aler  m'en  voldroie!"*^ 


y^i 


Meyer  *s  theory  that  the  hallette  stanjza  shows  in  its  struc- 
ture the  influence  of  the  Latin  hymn  may  or  may  not  be 
true.  This  influence  would  not  affect  the  hypothesis  of  an 
archetypal  dance  song  which  led  to  the  halada,  the  dansa, 
the  hallette,  and  the  hallade.  Nor  would  it  invalidate  the 
supposition  that  some  of  the  refrains  found  in  hallettes 
may  be  descended  from  those  of  popular  poetry.  Whether 
the  ballade  developed  directly  from  such  hallettes  as  those 
first  discussed,  or  whether  it  is  merely  a  parallel  growth, 
cannot  be  exactly  determined.  Tbo  ppOQent  writoi^^^Mygygs 
tlift^the  evidence  is  in  favor  of  the  direct  descent  of  the  bal- 
lade from  the  hallette.  As  will  be  presently  observed,  the 
earliest  hallades  were  three-stanza  poems  with  a  common 

*2  R.  A.  Meyer,  Opus  Cit,  p.  48,  No.  V. 


24  THE  BALLADE 

rime-scheme  throughout  and  a  refrain.  The  first  ballades 
have  no  envoy.  The  hallettes,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  show 
a  marked  tendency  to  three  stanzas ;  they  also  show  a  uni- 
form rime-scheme  throughout  and  a  refrain.  There  seems 
every  reason  to  believe  that  the  ballade  took  its  three  stanzas 
and  refrain  from  the  ballette^l^he  ballettes  are  not,  how- 
ever, the  only  poems  written  m  the  thirteenth  century  that 
show  a  uniform  rime-scheme  throughout.  Consider  the 
chanson  pieuse,  attributed  to  Guillaume  le  Vinier,*^  for 
which  no  model  among  the  profane  lyrics  has  yet  been 
found  :^* 

I.  "  Vierge  pucele  roiaus, 

Es  cui  li  dous  Jhesueris, 
Li  dous  glorieus  joiaus 
Fu  congeus  et  nouris, 
Bien  fu  vos  cuers  raemplis 
De  sa  grase  et  de  s'amour 
A  eel  jour 
Que  Sains  Esperis 
I  eut  le  fil  Dieu  assis. 

II.      Douce  dame  emperiaus, 
Esmeree  flour  de  lis, 
Dous  vergiers  especiaus 
Ou  li  sains  fniis  fu  cueiUis, 
Souverains  rosiers  eslis, 
Vous  aportastes  la  flour 
Et  Poudour 
Par  coi  paradis 
Nous  fust  ouvers  et  pramis. 

*3  E.  Ulrix,  Les  Chansons  Inedites  de  Guillaume  le  Vinier  d' Arras, 
Melanges  Wilmotte  (Paris,  1910),  p.  796. 

**J.  B6dier,  Un  Feuillet  Eec^mment  Betrouve  d'un  Chansonnier 
Frangais  du  xiiie  Silcle,  Melanges  Wilmotte  (Paris,  1910),  p.  897. 


ORIGINS  OF  THE  BALLADE  25 

III.     Vous  estes  amours  loiaus 

Dont  li  mort  cuer  sont  espris, 
Li  sourgons  et  li  ruisiaus 
Ki  arouse  le  pais, 
Li  confors  et  li  delis, 
La  fontaine  de  douQour 
Ou  li  plour 
Sont  puisie  et  pris 
Par  coi  pechie  sont  remis. 

IV.     Ha!  sanctuaires  tres  haus, 
Sor  tous  autres  eonjoi's, 
Tres  dous  precieus  vaissiaus, 
De  toutes  vertus  garnis, 
Sains  tresors  ou  Dieu  a  mis 
De  virginite  Founour, 
Tel  valour, 
Dame,  aves  conquis, 
Nule  n'est  vers  vous  en  pris. 

V.      France  dame  naturaus, 
Ki  saves  les  desconfis, 
Vers  tous  pechies  et  tous  maus, 
Soiies  moi  confors  toudis, 
Et  qant  mes  cors  ert  faillis, 
Proiies  vostre  Creatour, 
Cui  j'aour, 
K'aveuc  ses  amis 
Mete  n'ame  en  paradis. 

VI.      Cannon,  rent  gres  et  mereis 
La  nonper  et  la  meillour, 
K'a  cest  tour 
M'a  s'ai'e  apris 
De  li  a  faire  aueuns  dis."^^ 

45  E.  Jarnstrom,  Recueil  de  Chansons  Pieuses  du  XII I^  Si^cle  (Hel- 
sinki, 1910),  Vol.  I,  p.  133.  Cf.  also  the  Histoire  Litteraire,  Vol. 
XXIII,  p.  596:  ".  .  .  la  ballade  de  Guillame  le  Vinier,  composee  de 
six  couplets.  Voici  le  quatriSme,  dont  les  trois  derniers  vers  forment 
le  refrain: 


26  THE  BALLADE 

But  we  have  to  guard  against  reasoning  in  a  circle. 
Indeed  one  chanson  pieiise,  that  shows  a  refrain  and  two 
stanzas  with  the  same  rimes,  is  thought  to  have  been  com- 
posed to  a  ballette  air.*^ 

"  De  la  mere  Dieu  chanterai 
Et  en  chantant  li  prierai 
Qu'ele  me  soit,  quant  je  morrai, 

Procheinne, 
La  douce  pucelle  de  touz  biens  plainne. 

S'ele  m'est  pres,  seiirs  serai, 
Quant  de  cest  siecle  partirai, 
Que  je  de  m'ame  a  Dieu  ferai 

Estrainne 
La  douce  pucelle  de  touz  biens  plainne. 

III.    Dame  d'onneur  et  de  valour 

Et  la  mieudre  de  la  meillour, 
Finns  de  pitie  et  de  douQOur 

Fontainne ; 
La  douce  pucelle  de  touz  biens  plainne. 

IV.     Mieudre  qu'on  ne  porroit  penser, 
Souviegne  vos  de  nos  tenser, 
Quant  vostre  filz  fera  sonner 

S'erainne, 
La  douce  pucelle  de  touz  biens  plainne. 

*'Un  tout  seul  basier 
De  cuer,  a  loisir, 
Porroit  mon  vouloir 
Grant  piece  accomplir; 
Mais  de  desirrier 
Me  verrois  morir, 
Le  plus  n'en  avoie. 
Bone  est  la  doulours 
De  quoi  naist  docours 
Et  soulas  et  joie." 
*6E.  Jarnstrom,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  15. 


ORIGINS   OF   THB  BALLADE  27 

V.  Or  te  pri  je,  poll  damas, 
Si  chiere  com  ceste  dame  as, 
Que  doci  chanter  ne  te  soit  gas 

Ne  painne 
La  douce  pucelle  de  touz  biens  plainne."*^ 

To  another  trouvere,  Pierekins  de  la  Coupele,  is  at 
tri'buted  a  five-stanza  poem  with  refrain  and  identical  rimeS; 
one  stanza  of  which  is  the  following : 

I.     "A  mon  pooir  ai  semi 
Ma  dame  et  de  volente. 
Dex  doint,  qu'il  me  soit  merri, 
Et  qu'ele  m'en  sache  gre. 
Mis  i  a[i]  tot  [mon]  ae 
Cuer  et  cors  (et)  pensee  ausi. 
Se  par  li  n'ai  recoure 
Sante,  dont  sai  je  de  fi: 
Ja  de  mes  maus  ne  gar[i]rai. 
Dex,  que  ferai,  de  Vamor  n'ai 
Be  la  hele,  ou  mon  cuer  nis  aif"^^ 

In  the  Modena  manuscript  of  French  chansons,  the  first 
forty-nine  pieces  of  which  were  written  before  1254,  a 
poem  (number  39  in  the  series),  attributed  to  Moniot 
d  ^Arras,  shows  the  same  rimes  in  all  stanzas : 

47  E.  Jarnstrom,  Opus  Cit,,  p.  59.  Jeanroy,  reviewing  Jarn- 
strom's  book  in  Romania  for  January,  1911,  says  of  this  poem  (p. 
84):  ''Le  No.  XX  (R  664)  a  la  meme  structure  qu'une  chanson  k 
refrain,  tout  a  fait  dans  la  maniere  de  Colin  Muset  (R.  144) ;  il  y  a 
identite,  non  pas  entre  toutes  les  rimes,  mais  entres  celles  du  refrain 
et  du  petit  vers  qui  rattache  celui-ci  au  couplet.  Peut-etre  cette  forme 
tr^s  simple  et  d 'allure  populaire,  etait-elle  empruntee  a  une  chanson 
anterieure,  qui  parait  perdue." 

48  F.  Noack,  Der  Strophenausgang  in  seinem  Verhdltnis  sum  Be- 
frain  u.  Strophengrundstock  in  der  Eefrainhdltigen  Altfranzosischen 
Lyric,  Ausgaben  und  Ahhandlungen  aus  dem  Gehiete  der  Bomani- 
schen  Philologie  (Marburg,  1899),  XCVIII,  p.  127. 


28  THE  BALLADE 

"  Quant  jo  voi  le  dole  tans  d'este 
Venir,  che  cantent  roscenaus, 
Adonc  a  Amors  poeste 
Plus  seur  bons  che  seur  delloiaus; 
Molt  part  ont  cest(e)  siecle  amuse; 
Nus  ne  se  puet  tenir  a  aus; 
Dame,  si  vos  gardez  de  ^aus. 

Tant  a  en  vos  sens  et  belte, 
Por  Deu,  ne  soies  comunaus 
A  tel  gent  com  vos  ai  nome; 
Vostre  ami(s)  jetes  de  travaus; 
Trop  ai  lone  tans  cest  fais  porte 
D'ensi  vivre,  que  m'est  noaus; 
Si  per  vos  mor,  done  serai  saus. 

A  §0  pert  que  j'ai  tant  ame : 

Dame,  si  jo  fusse  des  fans 

Je  eiisse  ma  volente, 

Mais  miels  aem  vivra  con  loiaus 

E  mel  voil  [vers]  vos  recovrer, 

Por  plus  alegier  de  mes  maus, 

Che  gehagner  por  estre  baus."*® 

The  earliest  ballades  were  always  three-stanza  refrain 
poems  with  the  same  rime-scheme  throughout,  the  latter 
feature  being  thus  common  to  chansons  other  than  the  hal- 
lette.  The  many  ballades  attributed  to  Adan^°  de  la  Hale 
(1237-1287)  have  not  survived.  The  clmnsons  assigned  to 
Adan  by  Guy  include  a  poem  which  is  like  a  ballade  except 
that  it  has  four  stanzas.  Its  two-line  refrain  recalls,  of 
course,  the  extended  refrains  in  the  ballettes: 

"  Li  dous  maus  mi  renouvele, 
Avoec  le  printans 

<9  A.  Jeanroy,  Les  Chansons  Frangaises,  Inedites  du  Manuscrit  de 
Moddne,  Supplement  of  Revue  des  Langucs  Bomanes  (1896),  p.  254. 
80  The  spelling  now  preferred. 


ORIGINS   OF   THE   BALLADE  29 

Doi  iou  bien  estre  chantans, 
Pour  si  jolie  nouvele 
C'onques  mais  niis  pour  si  bele, 
Ne  plus  sage  ne  meillour, 
Ne  seiiti  nial  ne  dolour 

Or  est  ensi 
Que  j'atenderai  merchi.'"^^ 

^he  earliest  ballades  are  found,  often  with  the  music  to 
which  they  were  sung,  in  the  romans  of  the  late  thir- 
teenth and  early  fourteenth  centuries  and  in  the  works  of 
Jehannot  de  Lescurel.^^uch  romans  are  the  Roman  de 
Fauvel,^^  the  Dit  de  la  Panthere,  La  Prise  Amoureuse,  Le 
Romans  de  la  Dame  a  la  Lycorne  et  du  Biau  Chevalier  au 
Lyon,  and  Li  Regret  Guillaume. 

Todd  assigns  the  composition  of  the  Dit  de  la  Panthere 
to  some  time  between  1290  and  1328.  Two  lyrics  in  Mar- 
givaFs  work,  one  called  in  the  text  a  Baladele,  the  other  a 
Balade,  are  among  the  earliest  ballades.  In  the  Baladele, 
the  monorimes  are  very  primitive;  and  in  the  Balade,  the 
stanza  recalls  the  structure  of  a  hallette  stanza,  as  it  is 
made  up  of  five  lines  of  seven  syllables,  followed  by  five 
lines  of  five  syllables,  the  last  of  which  is  the  refrain,  the 
rime-scheme  being  a'babbcc.  The  text  of  one  of  these 
poems  will  serve  as  an  example : 

"  Anuis  meslez  a  eontraire 
M'a  si  mue  mon  af  aire 

51  E.  de  Coussemaker,  CSuvres  Computes  du  Trouvere  Adam  de  la 
Ealle   (Paris,  1872),  pp.  40-42. 

52  Pierre  Aubury,  Le  Roman  de  Fauvel  (Paris,  1907).  This  is  a 
photographic  reproduction  of  MS.  fr.  146  of  the  Bibliotheque  Na- 
tionale.  The  date  of  Bk.  I  is  1310,  of  Bk.  II,  1314.  (See  R.  Hess, 
Ber  Roman  de  Fauvel,  Romanische  Forschungen,  XXVII,  p.  295.) 
The  ballades  interpolated  in  the  Roman  in  this  particular  MS.  do  not 
appear  in  the  other  MSS.,  and  are,  in  all  probability,  by  various 
authors. 


30  THE  BALLADE 

Qu'il  m'a  fait  longuement  taire 
De  chanter  et  de  chant  faire. 

Car  la  bele  au  dous  viaire 
Que  j'aing  defuit  mon  repaire; 
N'est  assez  pour  moy  retraire 
De  chanter  et  de  chant  fairef 

Bone  amour,  veilliez  atraire 
Tant  que  je  puisse  a  li  plaire, 
Si  arai  bon  examplaire 
De  chanter  et  de  chant  faire."^^ 

Another  of  Margivars  lyrics,  called  in  the  text  simply 
ckanQonete,  is  in  reality  a  ballade  of  the  early  type  with 
irregular  lines  and  a  two-line  refrain.  A  stanza  will  suffice 
to  show  the  structure : 

"Biautez,  bontez,  douce  chiere, 
Sens  et  avenans  maniere, 
Et  grace  m'ont  si  conquis 
En  monstrant  dame  de  pris 

Soudainement 
Qu^a  li  servir  me  rent 

Outreement."^^ 

Le  Roman  de  la  Dame  a  la  Lycorne  et  dii  Biau  Chevalier 
au  Lyon  contains  more  ballades.  This  poem,  too,  dates 
from  the  end  of  the  thirteenth  or  the  beginning  of  the  four- 
teenth century.*^^  It  contains  fourteen  ballades,  one  of  them, 
however,  a  fragment.     In  the  text  the  word  balade  is  used 

58  H.  A.  Todd,  Le  Dit  de  la  PantMre  d' Amours  par  Nicole  de 
Margival  (Paris,  1883),  p.  87. 

54  H.  A.  Todd,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  84. 

65  P.  Gennrich,  Le  Romans  de  la  Dame  a  La  Lycorne  et  du  Biau 
Chevalier  au  Lyon,  Gesellschaft  fur  Eomanische  Literatur  (Dres- 
den, 1908),  XVIII,  p.  93. 


ORIGINS  OP  THE   BALLADE  31 

three  times  j*^®  the  other  hallades  introduced  are  designated 
as  canclionnette,  canclion,  and  clumt.  Eleven  of  the  hal- 
lades  rime  a  b  a  b  b  c  c,  and  vary  in  number  of  syllables  to 
the  line  from  seven  to  ten.  The  fragmentary  ballade  rimes 
ababbcc,  and  is  made  up  of  ten-syllable  lines.  Two 
other  ballades  are  constructed  differently.  One  rimes 
aabaabbaaaa,  with  a  two-line  refrain  and  seven- 
syllable  lines;  the  other  rimes  ababccdd,  with  a  one- 
line  refrain  and  ten-syllable  lines.  Two  of  the  ballades 
have  a  two-line  refrain.  The  ballade  quoted  below  is  the 
earliest  example  known  to  me  of  the  distribution  of  the 
stanzas  of  a  ballade  between  two  speakers.^^  The  first  two 
stanzas  here  are  spoken  by  the  Chevalier  au  Lyon ;  the  third 
is  the  Lady's  answer. 

"  Quant  sui  seuls  et  a  par  moi, 
Lors  est  toute  ma  pensee 
En  vous,  dame,  a  qui  j'ay 
De  fin  coer  m'amour  donnee. 
Seur  toutes  coses  m'agree 
Le  grant  bien  de  vous  penser, 
Quant  a  vus  ne  puis  parler. 

Onques  femme  tant  n'amai, 

Con  vous  ai  tons  jours  amee; 

Puis  Peure,  que  je  vus  ai 

Premierement  acointee, 

Douce,  plesant,  savouree; 

Ne  f  ai  que  vous  regreter. 

Quant  a  vus  ne  puis  parler.  ^ 

Biaus  sire,  bien  vous  en  croi 
Et  m'en  tieng  si  apaye, 
Que  sachies  en  bonne  foy, 

5«  Lines  3712,  5163,  3770. 
57  Cf.  p.  81  below. 


32  THE  BALLADE 

M'amour  vus  aie  otroie 

Que  tant  aves  desiree. 

Ce  vous  doit  bien  conforter, 

Quant  a  vous  ne  puis  parler."^^ 

^— In  La  Prise  Amoureuse,^^  composed  about  1332  by  Jehan 
Acart  de  Hesdin,  there  are  nine  ballades. ^^  The  author  of 
these  poems,  whether  he  be  Jehan  Acart  or  some  other, 

58  F.  Gennrich,  Opus  Cit.,  11.  3715-3728;  11.  3751-3757.  Cf.  Chap- 
ter II,  below,  on  ballade  in  dialogue. 

-.  59  Ernest  Hoepffner,  Jehan  Acart  de  Hesdin,  La  Prise  Amoureuse, 
Gesellschaft  fiir  Bomanische  Literatur  (Dresden,  1910),  XXII,  p.  xiv. 

60  E.  Langlois,  Les  Manuscrits  du  Boman  de  la  Bose,  Les  Travaux 
et  Memoires  de  rUniversite  de  Lille  (1910),  pp.  110-116.  There 
exists  one  MS.  (Arras  897)  in  which  these  ballades,  with  one  excep- 
tion, do  not  appear  in  the  text.  It  is  probable  that  their  absence  is 
due  to  their  suppression  by  the  Arras  copyist.  Cf.  G.  Raynaud, 
Hoepffner's  La  Prise  Amoureuse,  Bomania  XL  (1911),  p.  130:  "Lang- 
lois serait  assez  porte  a  croire  que  le  MS.  d 'Arras  (qui  du  reste  est 
date  de  1370)  represente  quand  meme  un  ancient  etat  de  I'ouvrage  et 
que  les  ballades  et  rondeaux,  ajoutes  apr^s  coup,  ne  sont  pas  I'ceuvre 
de  Jean  Acart.  Sauf  verification  a  faire  sur  le  MS.  nous  pensons  au 
contraire  qu'il  y  a  eu  suppression  de  la  part  du  copiste  d 'Arras,  car, 
s  'il  est  vrai  que  certaines  de  ces  pieces  adressees  a  la  dame,  et  ins6r6s 
dans  le  text  de  Paris  ne  s'y  attachent  pas  etroitement,  il  est  ais6 
k  constater  d 'autre  part  que  la  moitie  d'entre  elles  (huit  exactement) 
sont  annoncees  par  contexte;  ce  sont  autant  de  corrections  d61icates 
que  le  copiste  de  Paris  eut  du  faire  au  texte  primitif  pour  justifier 
1  'hypothSse  de  M.  Langlois.  La  presence  d  'ailleurs  de  poesies  courtes, 
de  rhythm  different,  dans  les  po^mes  de  cette  epoque  est  frequente. 
Comment  aussi  expliquer  autrement  la  ballade  finale  qu'a  eonserv6e 
le  MS.  d 'Arras?  Bien  entendu  I'examen  de  ce  MS.  donnera  la  vraie 
explication;  mais  que  ce  soit  Jean  Acart,  comme  nous  le  croyons,  ou 
tout  autre,  I'auteur  des  rondeaux  et  ballades  figurant  dans  la  Prise 
Amoureuse  ne  joue  pas  moins,  apr^s  la  demonstration  de  Hoepffner,  un 
role  k  part  dans  1  'histoire  de  la  poesie  f  ran^aise  au  XIV*  si^cle,  tenant 
encore  des  ses  devanciers  certains  traits  characteristiques  que  repudl- 
ent  plus  tard  Machaut  et  ses  disciples,  et  faisant  dejd,  voir  plusieurs 
tendances  que  ceux-ci  adopteront." 


ORIGINS  OF   THE  BALLADE  33  | 

i 

serves  as  a  link  between  the  trouveres,  who  produced  hal-  j 

lettes  or  changons  with  certain  features  of  the  hallddes,  and  i 

the  first  prolific  writers  of  the  ballade,  Machaut,  Froissart,  I 

and  Deschamps.    These  ballades  of  the  romans  and  of  Les-  : 

curel  are  all,  in  a  sense,  transitional  types,  but  the  bal-  | 

lades  in  La  Prise  Amoureuse  are  especially  so.     They  differ  < 

from. the  later  ballades  in  the  proportionate  frequency  of  \ 

the  two-line  refrain.     There  are  two  with  the  two-line  re-  j 

frain    and   seven   with   the   one-line   refrain,    whereas  in  - 

Machaut  only  ten  ballades  show  the  two-line  refrain  to  two  i 

hundred  and  forty  that  have  the  one-line  refrain,  and  in  i 
Froissart,  where  two  have  the  longer  refrain,  thirty-eight  js^i^jWut 
have  not.     The  percentage  of  ballades  having  two-line  re-'^^T  ' 

frains  is  even  smaller  in  the  work  of  Deschamps.     On  the  j 

other  hand,  among  the  ballettes  in  the  Douce  MS.  only  four  - 

VI  have  the  single-line  refrain,  and  in  the  Dit  de  la  Panthere,  ■ 

two  of  the  ballades  (not  those  so  named)  have  a  two-line 
^refrain.  (^     L^  '..^< ,  ,   ---■■ ,'    •■•-'^  > '.  :  A.,w,wj:-^V^>'^^^^-  v^^t^,^,w^^-^ 
,,J^c,The  seven-syllable  line  is  most  frequent  in  the  ballades  i^M^i.^"^-^- 
^  of  the  Prise  Amoureuse,  of  the  Roman  de  Fauvel,  and  in  '^^'^^--v^A       j 
K   the  poems  of  Lescurel.     The  eight-syllable  line  is  next  in  j 
point  of  frequency.     In  contrast,  four-fifths  of  Machaut 's  j 
ballades  use  the  ten-syllable  line,  and  it  is  equally  popular 
with  his  school.     The  earliest   ballades,  like  the   Oxford  \ 
ballettes,  rarely  introduce  the  ten-syllable  line.     The  bal- 
lades in  the  Prise  Amoureuse  show  great  variety  of  line  ^ 
structure  within  the  stanza,  and  in  this  particular  range  1 
themselves  with  the  older  generation.  i 

The  ballades  in  the  Prise  Amoureuse,  in  the  matter  of 

the  relation  of  the  refrain  to  the  stanza^  also  exhibit  features  | 
of   the   earlier  ballette.     In   the   ballades  of   Deschamps, 

Machaut,  and  Froissart,  the  refrains  are  closely  connected  I 

in  syllable-count  and  rime  with  one  or  more  lines  of  the  : 

stanza.     Only  three  of  the  ballades  (I,  V,  and  IX)  in  the  i 


34  THE  BALLADE 

Prise  Amoureuse  show  this  intimate  connection  of  refrain 
and  stanza;  the  other  four  have  a  refrain,  which,  while 
riming  with  some  previous  line  in  the  strophe,  shows  a  dif- 
ferent syllable-count.  The  case  is  similar  with  the  two 
ballades  that  have  a  two-line  refrain.  They  rime  with 
some  previous  line  of  the  stanza,  but  only  the  first  of  the 
two  lines  resembles  the  other  lines.  One  of  the  ballades 
attributed  to  Jehan  Acart  follows : 

Balade  I. 

"  Si  plaisamment  m'aves  pris 

Et  espris, 
Mes  dous  cuers,  que  li  miens  prise, 
Qu*a  vous  me  renc,  et  com  pris 

Ai  compris 
En  ceste  Amoureuse  Prise, 
Es  dous  biens  quAmours  m'envoie, 

D'estre  en  voie. 
Pour  vostre  amour  desservir, 
Flours  du  mond,  a  vous  sei-vir. 

Done  ne  doi  estre  repris, 

S'ai  empris 
Voloir  de  si  noble  emprise, 
Car  ja  pour  venir  a  pris 

Senc  apris 
Mon  cuer  de  si  douce  aprise, 
Que,  se  ja  merci  n'avoie, 

Si  s'avoie 
Mes  cuers,  sanz  ja  messervir, 
Flours  du  monde,  a  vous  servir. 

Gens  corps  ou  rien  n'a  mespiis, 

Et  pourpris 
Ou  toute  honnours  est  pourprise, 
Ancois  que  mors  m*ait  souspris 

N'entrepris, 


ORIGINS   OF   THE  BALLADE  35  j 

i 

Par  grace  soiez  esprise, 
Que  vo  pitiez  me  pourvoie, 

Et  si  voie  ] 

Moi  a  ma  vie  asservir,  j 

Flours  du  monde,  a  vous  servir.""*  j 

/The  ballades  of  Jehannot  de  Lescurel,  a  little  known  poet  . 

of  not  later  than  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century,  are         t^^\^ 
^i0^  of.  the  early  type.^^Eleven  ballades  survive,  one  of   '    ,  l'^^A*1*^ 
which,  given  below,  shows  the  two-line  refrain  and  irregu-  y  (aM 
larity  of  line  structure  common  to  the  earlier  ballades: 

"  Belle,  com  loiaus  amans, 

Vostres  sui:  car  soiez  moie. 

Je  vous  servirai  touz  tans, 

N'autre  amer  je  ne  voudroie,  | 

Ne  ne  puis;  se  le  povoie, 

Wi  voudroie  estre  entendans. 

Et  pour  ce,  se  Dex  me  voie, 
'  Dame,  bon  gre  vous  saroie,  '.•^  i 

'  Se  voustre  bouche  riant  /\  i 

"  Daignoit  toucher  a  la  moie.  \  | 

^  i 

Li  dons  est  nobles  et  grans; 

Ca,  se  par  vou  gre  Favoie,  ' 

Je  seroie  connoisanz  i 

Que  de  vous  amez  seroie, 

Et  mieus  vous  en  ameroie.  i 

Pource,  biaus  cuers  dous  et  frans. 

Par  si  qu'aviser  m'en  doie,  ] 

Dame,  bon  gre  vous  saroie  i 

Se  vostre  bouche  riant  ^ 

Daignoit  toucher  a  la  moie.  i 

61  E.  Hoepffner,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  1.  ; 

62  He  could  not  have  lived  later   than  the  middle   of   the   four-  j 
teenth  century,  because  the  MS.  of  his  poems  is  of  that  period.                                       ^ 


THE   BALLADE 


Vostre  vis  est  si  plaisans 
Que  ja  ne  me  souleroie 
D'estre  a  vo  plaisir  baisans 
S'amez  de  vous  me  sentoie; 
A  mieus  souhaidier  faudroie. 
Pour  ce  que  soie  sentant 
Quelle  est  d'amer  la  grant  joie. 
Dame,  bon  gre  vous  saroie 
Se  vostre  bouche  riant 
Daignoit  toucher  a  la  moie."^^ 

In  Li  Regret  Guilaume  Comte  de  Hainault,  written  in 
1339^*  by  Jehan  de  le  Mote,  are  thirty  ballades,  put  into 

63  A.  de  Montaiglon,  Chansons  Ballades  et  Bondeaux  de  Jehannot 
de  Lescurel  (Paris,  1855)^  p.  29. 

64  A.  Scheler,  Li  Begret  Guillaume  Comte  de  Hainault  par  Jehan  de 
Mote  (Louvain,  1882),  p.  viii.  The  rime  schemes  and  line  structure 
(the  lines  vary  occasionally  within  the  same  hallade),  of  the  thirty 
hcUlades  is  indicated  below: 


(1)  a 


)0 


b  a  b  b  c  c 
10  syllables 
b  a  b  b  c  b  c 

8  syllables 
b  a  b  b  c  c 

8  syllables 
b  a  b  b  c  b  c 
10  syllables 
b  a  b  b  c  c  d 

7  syllables 
b  a  b  b  c  c 
10  syllables 
b  a  b  b  c  b  c 

7  syllables 

b  a  b  c  c 

10  syllables 

a  a  a  a  b  b 

10  syllables 

(10)  a  b  a  b  b  c  c 

8  syllables 


t  (11) 


(2)  a 

(3)  a 

(4)  a 

(5)  a 

(6)  a 

(7)  a 

(8)  a 

(9)  a 


c  d 


abb 
8  syllables 

(12)  a  b  a  b  c  c  d 

10  syllables 

(13)  a  b  a  b  b  e  c 

8  syllables 

(14)  a  b  a  b  b  c  c 

10  syllables 

(15)  a  b  b  a  c  c  d 

8  syllables 
r  (16)  a  b  a  b  b  c  c 
10  syllables 

(17)  a  b  a  b  b  c  c 

8  syllables 

(18)  a  b  a  b  c  b  c 
,  10  syllables 

b  a  b  b  c  c 
8  syllables 

b  a  b  b  c  c 
8  syllables 


(19) 
(20) 


b  b 


ORIGINS   OF   THE  BALLADE  37 

the  mouths  of  as  many  abstract  qualities,  who  are  with 
one  accord  mourning  the  good  count.  All  these  hallades 
have  a  single-line  refrain;  five  show  seven-syllable  lines; 
thirteen,  eight-syllable  lines;  one,  nine-syllable  lines;  and 
eleven  use  the  ten-syllable  line.  Both  the  frequent  use  of 
the  ten-syllable  line,  and  the  single-line  refrain,  show  the 
author  to  belong  decidedly  to  the  generation  of  Machaut 
rather  than  of  Margival.  The  ballade  that  follows,  the  first 
in  the  poem,  is  in  all  respects  like  many  of  Deschamps : 

Cangon 

"  On  ne  poroit  penser  ne  souhaidier 
Plus  grant  tourment  ne  plus  aspre  dolour, 
Qui  s'est  en  mi  venue  hierbegier, 
Jou  qui  soloie  iestre  dame  d'onnour, 
Car  j'ai  bien  cause  en  mi  d'avoir  tristour, 
Ne  me  faura  jamais  tant  con  je  dure, 
Puis  c'ai  pierdu  le  flour  de  douQour  pure. 

Car  eeste  flour  a  oste  dou  rosier 
Pires  que  coers  mesdisans  plains  d'errour, 
Car  mesdisans  poet  on  bien  apaisier, 
Mes  ne  voi  ci  ne  voie  ne  retour 
Pour  quoi  joie  aye,  ainsgois  arai  gringnour 
Painne,  et  c'est  drois:  d'autre  cose  n'ai  cure, 
Puis  c'ai  perdu  le  flour  de  douQour  pure. 


(21)  a  b  a  b  b  c  c 

•\  (26)  a  b  a  b  b  c  c 

8  syllables 

8  syllables 

(22)  ababbcbc 

(27)  ababbcbc 

8  syllables 

8  syllables 

(23)  ababecdd 

(28)  a  b  a  b  b  c  c 

7  syllables 

10  syllables 

(24)  a  b  a  b  b  c  c 

*\(29)  a  b  a  b  b  c  c 

10  syllables 

^                 7  syllables 

(25)  a  b  a  b  e  b  c 

'■'  (30)  a  b  a  b  b  c  c 

7  syllables 

9  syllables 

38  THE  BALLADE 

Et  non  pour  quant  Nature  voel  pryer 
Que  le  bouton  qu^il  laissa  pour  savoir 
Sour  Foudourant  grascieus  englentier, 
Voelle  nourir  en  parfaite  valour, 
Que  de  par  li  raie  aueunne  dougour, 
Car  li  espoirs  de  li  me  raseiire 
Puis  c'ai  perdu  le  flour  de  dou§our  pure."^^ 

In  this  '^roman,"  Li  Regret  Guillaume,  the  trouvere  hero, 
at  the  opening  of  the  poem,  is  hastening  to  a  puy  d' amour 
in  order  to  submit  a  ^*cangon  amoureuse."^^  It  was,  in- 
deed, in  these  very  puys  d'amour  and  in  the  earlier  re- 
ligious puys,  both  poetic  guilds  of  the  thirteenth  century 
and  later,  that  the  ballade  of  three  stanzas  with  common 
rimes  and  a  refrain  came  to  be  diversified  and  complicated 
in  line  structure  and  rime.  In  the  puys,  too,  the  envoy, 
which  had  hitherto  been  a  feature  of  several  kinds  of 
chansons,  became  attached  to  and  identified  with  the  bal- 
lade, so  that  after  the  opening  of  the  fourteenth  century  a 
ballade,  whether  composed  in  a  puy  or  not,  almost  inevitably 
contained  a  conventional  address  to  the  "Prince"  in  the 
first  line  of  the  envoy.  These  same  puys  saw  the  develop- 
ment of  the  serventois,^''  of  the  chant  royal,^^  and  of  other 
forms  with  envoy,  as  well  as  of  the  ballade. 

65  A.  Scheler,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  20. 

66  A.  Scheler,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  4: 

"Singneur,  jou  qui  ai  fait  ce  livre 
Dormoie  une  nuit  k  delivre 
En  mon  lit  Cl  couci6s  estoie. 
En  dormant  melancholioie 
A  une  cannon  amoureuse, 
Et  par  samblance  grascieuse 
Dis  k'^  .i.  puis  la  porteroie 
Pour  couronner,  se  je  pooie. " 

67  See  Appendix  II. 

68  See  Appendix  III. 


ORIGINS   OF   THE   BALLADE  39 

Since  certain  final  stages  in  the  evolution  of  the  ballade 
were  accomplished  in  the  puy,  it  will  be  well  to  give  some 
consideration  to  this  institution.  The  history  of  the  word 
piii  or  puy  is  uncertain.  It  has  been  derived  from  the  Latin 
podium  meaning  ''elevation,"  and  in  this  sense  has  been 
supposed  to  refer  to  the  platform  on  which  the  officials  of 
the  concourse  sat.®^  Other  critics  have  derived  the  word 
from  the  name  of  the  town  in  Velay.  Some  of  the  sup- 
porters of  this  latter  theory  believe  that  pilgrims  from 
every  part  of  France  spread  the  fame  of  the  Virgin  of  Le 
Puy  in  Velay  until  religious  societies  named  in  her  honor 
sprang  up  in  northern  France.  Others,  among  whom  is 
Paul  Meyer,  believe  that  a  literary  society  actually  existed 
in  the  town  of  Le  Puy  which  was  the  model  for  similar 
societies  in  the  North.*^^  A  third  explanation,  that  offered 
by  Guy,  goes  back  to  the  more  usual  meaning  of  the  Latin 
podium,  namely,  mountain.  Guy  recalls  the  allegory  of 
Muses  residing  on  a  remote  peak,  and  in  commenting  on  the 
antiquity  of  the  notion,'^  supposes  that  the  term  puy,  sig- 

69 See  H.  Guy,  Adan  de  la  Hale  (Paris,  1898),  p.  xxxiv,  and  notes. 

70  p.  Meyer,  La  Chanson  de  la  Croisade  contre  les  Alhigeois,  (Paris, 
1879) ,  Vol.  II,  p.  39 :  "  Quant  a  la  cour  du  Puy,  dont  il  est  ici  question, 
elle  nous  est  connue  principalement  par  deux  temoignages  qu  'on  a  sou- 
vent  rapproches.  L  'un  est  emprunte  a  la  vie  du  Moine  de  Montaudon ; 
il  y  est  dit  que  ce  religieux,  ayant  obtenue  de  son  abbe  la  permission 
de  mener  la  vie  mondaine,  fut  seigneur  de  la  cour  du  Puy  et  con- 
serva  ce  titre  tant  que  cette  cour  dura.  .  .  .  L 'autre  temoignage  est 
la  soixante  quatrieme  des  cento  novelle  antiche.  .  .  .  En  outre,  quatre 
approvatori  etaient  institutes  pour  examiner  les  chansons  qui  leur 
etaient  soumises,  signalant  les  bonnes,  et  rendant  les  autres  a  leurs 
auteurs  pour  etre  corrigees.  La  celebre  chanson  de  Guiraut  de  Cal- 
anson  (commencement  du  XIII^  si^cle)  sur  le  'menor  ters  d 'amors' 
fut  selon  Guiraut  Riquier,  qui  I'a  longuement  comment^e,  presentee  k 
la  cour  du  Puy  (Mahn  Werlce  d.  Trouh.  IV,  199)". 

71  H.  Guy,  Opus  at.,  p.  xxxiv,  criticizes  the  derivation  of  puy  from 
podium  meaning  a  platform,  on  the  ground  that,  in  the  first  place, 


40  THE  BALLADE 

nifying  mountain,  represented  to  religious  and  secular 
poets  the  heights  to  which  they  aspired  to  raise  the  subject 
which  they  were  treating. "^^  As  early  as  1051,  there  was 
authorized  a  confrerie  of  jongleurs  at  the  Sainte-Trinite 

podium  is  really  unfamiliar  in  the  sense  of  platform,  and,  in  the 
second  place,  because  the  societies  would  hardly  have  been  named 
from  so  unimportant  an  accessory.  Paul  Meyer's  hypothesis  he  ques- 
tions (p.  xxxvi)  on  the  ground  that  other  early  societies  of  similar 
nature  probably  existed.  He  thinks  that  the  numerous  literary  socie- 
ties could  scarcely  all  have  sprung  from  the  one  in  the  capital  of 
Velay.  *  *  II  est  vraisemblable, ' '  he  writes,  * '  que  1  'etablissement  des 
puys  repondait  a  une  tendance  generale  et  presque  instinctive  de  la 
societe  d'alors." 

The  origin  of  the  institution  as  curiously  viewed  by  Abbe  de  la  Rue 
in  his  Essais  Historiques  sur  les  Bardes,  Les  Jongleurs  et  les  Trou- 
veres  Normands  et  Anglo -N or mands  {Caen,  1834),  p.  28,  is  as  follows: 
^'L'origine  des  Puys  d 'amour  ne  nous  est  pas  connue,  mais  elle 
doit  etre  tres  ancienne;  elle  pourrait  bien  etre  celtique,  du  moins 
on  trouve  ces  jeux  poetiques  en  usage  au  vi^  siecle;  le  Barde 
Taliesin  reconnait  que  son  fils  lui  est  superieur  en  poesie,  et  que 
cette  superiority  a  ete  proclam^e  dans  les  jeux  litt^rares  ^tablis 
pour  juger  et  couronner  les  meilleures  poesies;  ces  jeux  subsistaient 
encore  au  xiie  siScle  dans  le  pays  de  Galles  et  meme  au  xv*. 
Les  Bretons  les  avaient  probablement  importes  de  la  Gaule,  leur 
premiere  patrie;  les  peuples  de  nos  provinces  du  Nord  avaient  pu 
en  maintenir  1 'usage  ou  tout  au  moins  en  conserver  le  souvenir; 
le  souvenir  des  hommes  subsiste  longtemps,  surtout  quand  il  s'agit 
d 'institutions  agr6ables  et  utiles;  dans  ce  dernier  cas,  les  jeux 
poetiques  auront  ete  r^tablis  dans  le  Nord  de  la  France,  lors  de  la 
Formation  du  Roman  Wallan. " 

72  H.  Guy,  Opus  at.,  pp.  xxxviii.  In  a  review  of  Guy's  Adan  de  la 
Hale  in  Romania,  xxix  (1900),  p.  294,  Jeanroy  says:  **Sur  I'origine 
meme  et  1  'acception  primitive  du  mot  M.  J.  a  soumis  k  une  pdnetrante 
critique  les  opinions  6mises;  la  th^orie  qu'il  y  oppose  n'est  pas  non 
plus  absolument  satisf aisante, "  On  pp.  298-299  of  the  same  review, 
Jeanroy  cites  some  interesting  references  to  puis  found  in  lyric 
poetry. 


ORIGINS  OF  THE  BALLADE  41 

de  Fecamp  in  Normandy."^^  According  to  their  charter, 
the  purpose  of  their  association  was  masses,  alms,  vigils, 
and  prayers.  Yearly  on  St.  Martin's  Day  they  walked 
in  a  procession  with  the  monks.  At  a  later  date  puys  are 
known  to  have  existed  in  Valenciennes,  Arras,  Rouen, 
Caen,  Amiens,  Abbeville,  Dieppe,  Douai,  Cambray,  Evreu, 
Lille,  Bethune,  and  London.  It  will  be  unnecessary,  in 
the  interests  of  a  full  account  of  the  ballade,  to  do  more 
than  touch  on  the  history  of  a  typical  puy  in  France,  and 
of  the  one  known  English  puy. 

All  the  puys  of  the  Middle  Ages  were  originally  religious 
in  character.  Their  foundation  was  usually  attributed  to 
clerks  who  had  had  miraculous  visions  of  the  Virgin.'^* 
Gradually  these  religious  fraternities  evolved  into  literary 
societies,  chambers  of  rhetoric,  and  academies,  with  only  a 
faint  coloring  of  their  religious  purpose  left.  The  ''con- 
f rerie  de  Notre-Dame  des  Ardents '  '^^  at  Arras  is  said  to  go 
back  to  the  Virgin's  gift  of  a  healing  candle  to  two  min- 
strels during  a  pest  in  1105.  Early  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, so  the  account  runs,  a  religious  guild  was  founded  at 
Arras  in  memory  of  this  miracle.  The  statutes  of  the  so- 
ciety"^® express  its  purpose  to  save  the  ' '  ardans  qui  ardoisent 
du  fu  d'enfer."  Each  member  was  to  attend  the  meetings 
held  three  times  a  year,  to  pay  dues,  to  succour  his  com- 
rades in  poverty,  to  follow  them  to  the  grave,  and  to  pay  a 
forfeit  if  any  of  these  duties  was  neglected.     In  this  society, 

■^3  Leroux  de  Lincy,  Becueil  de  Chants  Eistoriques  Frangais  (Paris, 
1841),  p.  xxix,  p.  XXX,  and  by  the  same  author,  Essai  Historique  et 
Litteraire  sur  I'Ah'baye  de  Fecamp  (Eouen,  1840),  p.  378.  Cf.  Joseph 
Bedier,  Richard  de  Normandie,  Bomanic  Review,  I,  p.  122. 

74  See  Appendix  1,  E. 

75  H.  Guy,  Adan  de  la  Rale  (Paris,  1898),  pp.  xxvii-xxxiv,  passim. 

76  Cf.  MS.  B.  N.  8541.  For  the  statutes  of  the  puy  at  Amiens,  see 
Victor  de  Beauvillee,  Becueil  de  Documents  Inedits  Concernant  la 
Picardie  (Paris,  1862-1882),  Vol.  1,  p.  189,  ff. 


42  THE   BALLADE 

in  which,  as  in  the  others  the  members  were  classified,  the 
trouveres  were  held  first  in  dignity.  This  society,  more- 
over, never  lost  its  original  religious  character."^^  Now, 
as  to  the  literary  organization  of  this  ptiy  at  Arras,  which 
is  so  intimately  connected  with  the  activity  of  Adan  de  la 
Hale,  the  president  of  the  association  was  called  "Prince," 
and  to  him,  as  representing  the  whole  corporation,  the 
envoys  of  poems,  composed  before  and  after  the  vogue  of 
the  ballade,  were  frequently  addressed.  This  office  was 
probably  elective,  and  would  be  held  only  by  a  rich  man, 
because  a  "Prince"  was  expected  to  pay  the  expenses  of 
any  dramatic  enterprises,  to  fee  the  clergy  who  officiated 

77  H.  Guy,  Opus  at.,  p.  xxxiii.  "S'ils  font  bande  a  part,  quand 
il  s'agit  de  s'occiiper  de  leur  gaie  science,  ils  entendent  pourtant 
escorter  aux  procession  le  saint  cierge."  See  also  L.  Passy,  Frag- 
ments d'Histoire  Litteraire  a  Propos  d'un  Nouveau  Manuscrit  de 
Chansons  Frangaises,  Bibliotheque  de  I'Ecole  des  Chartes,  4*  serie, 
Vol.  V  (Paris,  1859),  p.  492:  ' '  J 'aimerais  k  definir  un  Puy,  et  en 
particulier  le  Puy  d 'Arras,  une  confrerie  litteraire.  A  prendre  dans 
leur  sens  litteral  les  paroles  de  Vilain,  on  pourrait  croire  que  de  son 
temps  les  puys  avaient  perdu  leur  premier  caractere,  et  substitue  la 
culte  de  I'amour  au  culte  de  la  Vierge.  Des  I'origine,  il  est  vrai, 
1  'esprit  litteraire  disputa  a  1  'esprit  religieux  la  direction  des  Puys.  .  .  . 
La  vie  du  moyen  age  etait  si  ennuyeuse  et  si  monotone!  .  .  .  Com- 
ment ne  pas  saisir  la  premiere  occasion  de  se  distraire,  et  quelle  occa- 
sion plus  naturelle  que  d'honorer  la  mSre  d'un  Dieu  par  les  lettres 
et  les  arts,  la  musique  et  la  poesie?  La  confrerie  tourna  en  acad6mie, 
et  le  Puy  Notre-Dame  devint  un  Puy  d 'amour.  Les  poetes  s'habitu- 
drent  h  eel^brer  la  beaute  de  leurs  maitresses  dans  une  reunion  oil 
ils  n'auraient  du  celebrer  que  la  vertu  de  la  Vierge;  et  les  memes 
voix  sur  les  memes  airs  chantdrent  de  pieux  cantiques  et  de  leg^res 
chansons.  Le  sentiment  religieux  ne  fut  cependent  jamais  6touffe: 
il  survecut  dans  I'objet  mSme  de  I'assemblee  et  dans  les  details  de  la 
fete.  Lorsqu'on  retrouve  au  seizi^me  si^cle  les  Puys  constitues  et 
fonctionnant  sous  la  haute  influence  de  I'Eglise,  on  ne  pent  pas  sup- 
poser  qu'au  treizi^me, 

Pour  sostenir  amour,  joie  et  jovent, 
il  se  soient  derob^s  k  cette  influence." 


ORIGINS   OF   THE  BALLADE  43 

at  ceremonies,  and  to  entertain  generously.  From  the  re- 
mark of  the  father  of  the  fool  in  Adan's  LaFeuillee,  namely, 
**Tasies  pour  les  Dames,"  it  may  he  assumed  that  ladies 
were  occasionally,  if  not  frequently,  present  at  the  sessions. 
In  this  study,  the  literary  forms  other  than  the  ballade 
which  engaged  the  attention  of  the  puys  need  not  be  dis- 
cussed. The  puy  at  Arras,  like  the  other  poetic  guilds, 
turned  its  attention  to  the  subject  of  our  study  only  after 
the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century ."^^  The  brotherhood 
of  the  piiy  founded  in  London  at  the  close  of  the  thirteenth 
or  at  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century,^^  was,  of 
course,  modelled  on  these  French  confreries. 

The  society  received  from  the  city  great  privileges  in  con- 
nection with  the  Chapel  of  St.  Mary  near  Guildhall,  which 
was  built  towards  the  close  of  Edward  I's  reign.  The 
society  was  religious,  convivial,  and  literary.^"  Whether  its 
models  were  the  confreries  of  Normandy  and  Picardy, 
or  a  particular  confrerie  at  Le  Puy  in  Velay,  cannot  be 
certainly  determined.  The  editor^^  of  the  Liber  Custuma- 
rum,  which  contains  the  Statutes^^  of  the  English  puy,  he- 
's There  is  no  evidence  for  the  exact  date  at  which  any  puy  took 
up  the  ballade  as  an  exercise. 

79  H.  T.  Eiley,  Memorials  of  London  and  London  Life  (1276-1419), 
(London,  1868),  p.  42:  27  Edward  I.  A.  D.  1299.  Letter-Book  E., 
first  fly-leaf.     (Latin.) 

''Common  Pleas  holden  on  Monday  the  morrow  of  Holy  Trinity 
in  the  27th  year  of  the  year  of  the  reign  of  King  Edward,  son  of 
King  Henry. — 

At  this  Court,  Henry  le  Waleys  gave  and  granted  unto  the 
Brethren  of  the  Pui  5  marks  of  yearly  quit-rent  to  be  received  from 
all  his  tenements  in  London,  toward  the  support  of  one  chaplain, 
celebrating  divine  service  in  the  new  Chapel  at  the  Guildhall  of 
London."  The  Henry  le  Waleys  here  mentioned  had  been  mayor 
both  of  London  and  Bordeaux. 

80  See  Appendix  I,  A. 

81  H.  T.  Eiley. 

82  See  Appendix  I,  A. 


44  THE  BALLADE 

lieves  that  during  the  period  of  the  organization  of  the 
English  guild,  the  interruption  of  England's  commercial 
relations  with  Normandy  and  Picardy  made  it  probable  that 
merchants  from  Gascoigne  and  Guyenne,  neighbors  of  Le 
Puy,  imported  from  thence  the  main  features  of  a  religious- 
literary  guild.  Although  the  majority  of  members  were 
foreigners,  the  name  of  the  "third  Prince"  of  the  fra- 
ternity, the  only  person  named  in  the  documents  of  the 
Liher  Custumarum,  which,  as  we  have  said,  contains  the 
statutes  of  the  society,  is  English.  Its  convivial  aspects, 
feasts,  and  processions  seem  most  prominent,  but  masses 
and  almsgiving  also  are  prominent,  not  to  speak  of  the 
yearly  literary  contest.  On  this  occasion  a  crown  was 
awarded  to  the  composer  of  the  best  chancoun  reale}^ 
Search  of  promising  manuscript  collections  has  failed  to 
reveal  any  of  the  poems  presented  to  the  English  puy.  It  is 
not  unlikely,  however,  that  both  the  hallade  and  the  chant 
royal  may  have  figured  in  its  latest  contests,  if  not  in  Eng- 
lish, perhaps  in  French.  The  sessions  of  this  puy  seem 
to  have  ceased  after  the  fourteenth  century.^* 

The  last  important  contribution  to  the  structure  of  the 
'ballade  was  thus  the  envoy,  added  in  the  puys  in  the  late 
fourteenth  century,  in  the  course  of  such  poetical  contests 
as  have  been  described.  Thereafter,  chambers  of  rhetoric 
and  individual  poets  might  vary  the  length  of  the  line,  con- 

83  See  Appendix  II. 

84  H.  T.  Riley,  Munimenta  Gidhallae  Londoniensis  (London,  1860), 
Vol.  II,  Pt.  I,  p.  LI:  "As  to  the  place  of  meeting  of  the  companions 
of  the  Puy,  we  are  not  informed;  if,  indeed,  they  had  any  such  fixed 
place,  which  seems  doubtful.  The  Vintry  which  we  know  to  have 
been  extensively  inhabited  by  merchants  of  Bordeaux  and  other 
localities  of  Gascoigne  and  Guyenne,  seems  not  unlikely  to  have  been 
their  favorite  place  of  resort."  We  are  tempted  to  wonder  whether 
the  illustrious  poet,  son  of  a  vintner,  was  familiar  with  the  latest 
findings  of  the  English  puy. 


ORIGINS  OP   THE  BALLADE  46 

trive  elaborate  rime  ornaments,  or  adapt  the  ballade  to 
express  various  ideas  and  perform  many  functions,  but, 
with  the  addition  of  an  envoy,  the  form  was  fixed  in  its 
essential  features. 

^^pparently,  then,  the  ballade  took  roughly  about  four 
centuries  to  develop.  There  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that 
the  word  itself  came  from  the  Provengal  balada.  BaZlette, 
used  to  describe  what  was  probably  a  direct  predecessor  of 
the  ballade,  is,  we  may  assume,  a  corruption.  The  ballade 
stanza  was  well  developed  by  the  fourteenth  century,  what- 
ever the  process;  whether  the  procedure  was  according  to 
the  method  suggested  by  Stengel,  by  Jeanroy,  or  by  R.  A. 
Meyer  is  still  to  be  determined.  We  see  the  ballade  stanza 
in  various  stages  of  development  in  the  balada  and  in  the 
ballette.  To  the  latter  the  ballade  owes  probably  its  three 
stanzas  and  refrain.  The  ballettes,  composed  in  the  thir- 
tenth  century,  were  artistic  dance  songs.  They  incorporated 
refrains  which,  copied  from  those  of  traditional  poetry,  had 
become  the  stock-in-trade  of  the  trouveres.  Many  of  the 
ballettes  consisted  of  only  three  stanzas,  with  a  refrain  at 
least  two  lines  in  length,  loosely  connected  with  the  stanza. 
There  are  three  conspicuous  ways  in  which  this  thirteenth 
century  dance  song  differs  from  its  successor  or  analogue, 
for  the  earlier  verse  form  shows  a  refrain  of  several  lines 
which  is  frequently  independent  of  the  rest  of  the  stanza 
and  which  often  has  every  mark  of  being  popular  in  char- 
acter. It  is  the  refrain  in  all  of  these  forms,  in  the  balada 
as  well  as  in  the  ballette  and  the  ballade,  that  points  to  an 
ultimate  popular  origin,  and  establishes  their  kinship  with 
earlier  Romance  songs  composed  in  connection  with  the 
dance.  Practically  nothing  remains  of  that  primitive  Ro- 
mance literature  which  has  become  a  postulate  of  literary 
critics.  The  primitive  dance  songs  survive  only  in  refrains 
modelled  on  those  of  popular  tradition.    Though  the  ballade 


46  THE  BALLADE 

has,  as  might  he  supposed,  its  analogues  in  Spanish,  Italian, 
and  Provengal,  in  no  one  of  these  languages  did  so  rigid  a 
verse  form  as  the  French  develop.^^  Other  probable  con- 
tributions to  the  form  of  the  ballade  are  to  be  found  in  the 
chansonniers  of  the  thirteenth  century,  which  contain  poems 
with  the  same  rimes  running  through  a  number  of  stanzas ; 
there  were,  too,  especially  in  verses  composed  for  presenta- 
tion in  the  puys,  envoys  in  which  trouveres,  judges,  and 
other  notabilities  were  addressed  by  name.  In  the  late 
thirteenth  century,  three-stanza  refrain  poems,  with  the 
same  rimes  throughout,  w^ere  written  and  named  halades, 
and  as  the  fourteenth  century  progressed,  the  refrains  of 
many  lines  that  had  characterized  the  ballade,  in  the 
romans  and  elsewhere,  were  generally  reduced  to  one  line. 
At  length,  at  the  close  of  the  same  century,  the  envoy,  with 
its  conventional  salute  to  the  "Prince,"  was  annexed,  and 
the  ballade  became  in  France  a  favorite  poetic  type  for  at 
least  two  centuries  to  come. 

»5  In  the  fifteenth  century,  however,  the  Provencal  dansa  showed 
a  structure  similar  to  that  of  the  tallade. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  FROM  THE  END  OF  THE  FOUR- 
TEENTH CENTURY  TO  THE  MIDDLE  OF  THE 
SEVENTEENTH  CENTURY 

It  would  obviously  be  an  impossible  task  to  make  a  list  of 
all  the  writers  who  have  produced  ballades,  and  still  more 
so  to  register  all  the  occurrences  of  the  type  in  early  times. 
The  great  frequency  of  the  ballade  form  in  medieval  France 
has  already  been  noticed.  And,  with  the  exception  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  it  has  been  in  constant  use  in  that 
country  since  the  days  of  Lescurel.  So,  while  the  history 
of  its  origins  must  be  made  relatively  complete,  its  long 
career  in  France  necessitates  limiting  an  account  of  its 
further  development  to  its  more  significant  phases. 

In  the  preceding  chapter,  the  history  of  the  early  bal- 
lade referred  to  its  increasingly  complex  versification.  As 
time  went  on,  not  only  did  the  form  become  modified,  but 
there   accumulated   gradually   a   fund   of   ballade   ideas,^ 

1  F.  J.  A.  Davidson,  Uher  den  TJrsprung  und  die  GeschicMe  der 
Franzosischen  Ballade  (Leipzig,  1900),  p.  73:  "Sie  ist  damals  die 
eigentliche  Ausdrucksform  fur  alle  Arten  von  Gedanken.  Sie  be- 
schrankt  sich  nieht  auf  irgend  eine  Schattierung  und  hangt  von 
keiner  besonderen  Eingebung  ab.  Man  bedient  sich  ihrer  fiir  polit- 
ische  sowohl  wie  fiir  religiose,  fiir  satirische  als  auch  fiir  Liebesge- 
dichte,  und  zwischen  diesen  Extremen  giebt  es  keine  Nuancierung  des 
Gedankens,  die  sie  nicht  ausdriicken  kann.  Der  Grund  hierfiir  ist 
jedenfalls  der,  dass  ihr  Charakter  allein  in  Rhythmus  liegt  und  durch- 
aus  nicht  vom  Gegenstand  der  Dichtung  selbst  abhangt. "  It  is  wholly 
true,  of  course,  that  the  ballade  is  distinguished  from  other  lyrical 
poetry  by  its  metrical  peculiarities  more  than  by  its  content.  David- 
son is  prefectly  justified,  too,  in  emphasizing  the  very  wide  applica- 
tion of  the  ballade.  But  to  grant  the  ballade  this  extensive  range 
is  not  to  deny  that  ballade  literature  had  certain  favorite  themes. 

47 


48  THE   BALLADE 

which  was  steadily  drawn  on  from  the  days  of  Lescurel  and 
Deschamps  down  to  the  time  of  La  Fontaine.  Ballades  on 
these  themes  were  occasionally  grouped  in  sequences,  and, 
more  commonly  still,  became  a  favorite  ornament  of  the 
early  religious  and  secular  drama.  The  ballade,  likewise, 
continued  to  be  favored  by  poets  in  the  puys,  and  also  in 
the  more  or  less  informal  poetical  concourses  like  those  held 
at  Blois  under  the  auspices  of  Charles  d 'Orleans.  On  one 
such  occasion  at  Blois,  for  instance,  the  paradox,  "  Je  meurs 
de  soif  aupres  de  la  f ontaine, ' '  was  announced  as  the  refrain 
for  ballades  to  be  written  in  competition.^  Charles  and  his 
poet  guests  tried  their  hand  on  ballades  based  on  this  idea.^ 
Charles  had  indeed  at  least  as  early  as  1451*  played  with 
the  same  sentiment : 

"  Je  meurs  de  soif  en  couste  la  f  ontaine, 
Tremblant  de  froit  ou  feu  des  amoureux. 
Je  gaigne  temps  et  pers  mainte  semaine 
Je  joue  et  ris  quant  me  sens  douloureux, 
Desplaisanee  j'ay  d'esperance  plaine, 
J'actens  boneur  en  regret  angoisseux, 
Rien  ne  me  plaist  et  si  suis  desireux, 
Je  m^esjois  et  courre  a  ma  pensee, 
En  bien  et  mal  par  Fortune  menee." 

2  A  ballade  beginning,  *'Ma  doulce  dame  en  qui  jay  ma  fiance," 
and  bearing  as  refrain,  *'Je  meurs  de  soif  aupres  de  la  f ontaine," 
appears  on  sig.  tiii'  of  the  Jardin  de  Plaisance  of  A.  V§rard,  as  re- 
published by  the  Societe  des  Anciens  Textes  Frangais  (Paris,  1910). 

3  P.  Champion :  Le  Manuscrit  Autographe  de  Poesies  de  Charles 
d 'Orleans  (Paris,  1907),  p.  25,  note  5:  **Ce  tournoi  po6tique  ne  pent 
avoir  eu  lieu  avant  1456,  car  on  y  voit  figurer  Gilles  des  Ormes  qui 
paratt  seulement  dans  la  maison  du  due  en  1456  (comptes  de  1456). 
.  .  .  Mais  je  ne  crois  pas  que  Ton  puisse  pr6ciser  cette  date.  L 'in- 
scription de  la  pi6ce  de  Villon  ne  peut  pas  etre  ant^rieure  au  19 
d^cembre  1547.  A  vrai  dire,  il  n'y  eut  jamais  un  concours,  mais 
seulement  un  th^me  k  developper. " 

♦  Pierre  Champion,  Vie  de  Charles  d'O Weans- (Paris,  1911),  p.  652. 


m 


THE   BALLADE  IN  PRANCE  49 

Somewhat  later,  in  another  ballade,  he  modified  the  theme 
to,  "  Je  n'ay  plus  soif,  tarie  est  la  fontaine."  Then  eleven 
of  his  friends  took  up  the  idea  and  developed  it.  The  names 
of  five  of  these  are  lost ;  but  Montbeton  and  Robertet,  Ber- 
taut  de  Villebresme,  Jean  Caillau,  Gilles  des  Ormes,  Simo- 
net  Caillau,  and  Francois  Villon  are  known  to  have  written 
ballades  around  the  sentiment,  "  Je  meurs  de  soif  aupres  de 
la  fontaine. "« 

In  the  fifteenth  century,  when  a  number  of  very  different 
ideas  were  finding  expression  in  ballades,  there  was  also 
great  variety  within  the  form  itself.^  Many  things  could 
be  done  with  a  type  of  poetry  the  only  fixed  features  of 
which  were  three  stanzas,  a  refrain,  the  same  rime-scheme 
in  every  stanza,  and,  under  some  circumstances,  an  envoy. 
By  actual  count,  however,  the  most  frequent  stanzas  were 
either  that  of  eight  lines,  made  up  of  octosyllabics  and  rim- 
ing a  b  a  b  b  c  b  c,  or  that  of  ten  lines  composed  of  decasyl- 
labics, riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c  d  c  d.  Every  stanza  was  a 
metrical  unit,  for  the  sense  was  seldom  allowed  to  run  over 
from  one  stanza  to  the  next.  It  is  noteworthy,  too,  that 
there  were  no  breaks  in  sense  even  in  the  longest  stanzas. 
Stanzas,  moreover,  in  which  two  or  more  distinct  ideas  were 
elaborated  were  unusual,  although  every  line  in  all  three 

5  Pierre  Champion,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  653. 

« H.  Chatelain,  Eecherches  sur  le  Vers  Frangais  au  XV«  Siecle, 
(Paris,  1908).  In  Chapter  X  of  this  work,  Chatelain  treats  fully  the 
variations  of  the  ballade  form  in  the  fifteenth  century.  His  summary 
is  complete  for  the  golden  age  of  the  ballade;  the  numerous  metrical 
modifications  of  the  type  worked  out  in  that  century  were,  for  all 
practical  purposes,  never  augmented.  Chatelain  has  done  his  work  so 
thoroughly  that  it  is  only  necessary  to  refer  to  his  summary.  The 
subject  of  the  metrical  structure  of  the  ballade  in  the  treatises  on 
poetics  of  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  sixteenth,  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies is  discussed  below  in  Chapter  III. 


60  THE  BALLADE 

stanzas  might  contain  an  illustration  of  the  theme  of  the 
whole  halladeJ 

The  metrical  form  of  the  ballade  had  originally,  as  has 
been  shown,  been  conditioned  to  a  certain  extent  by  popu- 
lar dance  airs.®  And  from  the  evidence  of  certain  manu- 
scripts it  seems  certain  that  at  least  as  late  as  the  close  of 
the  fifteenth  century  ballades  were  written  to  be  sung.  A 
manuscript  of  Lescurel's  gives  a  musical  accompaniment 
for  the  first  stanza  of  every  ballade.^  In  a  British  Museum 
manuscript  of  Charles  d 'Orleans's  poems,  there  is  some 
musical  notation  of  the  sixteenth  eentury.^^ 

What  little  has  been  said  so  far  about  the  externals  of  the 
ballade  has  applied  to  the  normal  examples  of  the  type ;  but 
at  an  early  date  French  poets  taxed  their  ingenuity  in  turn- 
ing out  what  may  well  be  called  freak  ballades.  The 
abnormal  complication  and  absurd  ornamentation  of  the 
form  was  not  confined  to  the  school  of  the  *  *  Grands  Rheto- 
riqueurs."  Deschamps  and  Christine  de  Pisan  were  both 
guilty  of  trying  to  see  to  what  strange  contortions  they 
might  subject  this  poetic  form.  Deschamps  wrote  at  least 
two  ballades  that  he  claimed  in  the  title  might  be  read  in 

7  Compare  the  tallades  composed  of  popular  proverbs,  cited  below. 

8  Cf .  Pierre  Aubry,  Trouvdres  et  Troubadours  (Paris,  1910),  pp. 
58-62. 

9  A.  de  Montaiglon,  Chansons  Ballades  et  Eondeaux  de  Jehannot  de 
Lescurel  (Paris,  1855),  pp.  viii-ix. 

10  This  fact  was  given  to  me  by  M.  Pierre  Champion  in  a  kindly 
personal  interview  in  the  summer  of  1910,  in  Paris.  See  also  P. 
Champion,  Vie  de  Charles  d'Orleans  (Paris,  1911),  p.  260:  "Toute 
poesie  6tait  encore,  en  partie,  d^pendante  de  la  musique  et  de  la 
facile  banalite  qui  en  decoule.  Au  temps  de  Guillaume  de  Machault, 
cinquante  ans  environ  avant  que  Charles  composat  ses  premiere 
poesies,  on  chantait  les  rondeaux,  les  chansons,  et  meme  les  ballades. 
Au  temps  de  la  jeunesse  de  Charles  d  'Orleans,  les  chansons  seulement 
demeuraient  des  compositions  musicales  et  de  ce  fait  se  distinguaient 
des  rondeaux." 


THE  BALI/ADE  IN  FRANCE  61 

eight  different  ways.    The  first  stanza  of  one  of  these  will 
serve  to  show  that  the  poet*s  assertion  was  not  extravagant: 

"  Virginite,  Beaute,  Bonte,  Saincte, 
Amoureuse,  precieuse,  agreable, 
Humilite,  Pitie,  Eternite, 
Glorieuse,  piteuse,  charitable, 
Vertueuse,  doucereuse,  honourable, 
Tressainctement  pour  nous  tous  destinee, 
Divinite,  Verite  inmuable, 
Certainement  le  sieele  ains  ordenee."^^ 

The  artifice  of  Christine's  Balades  d'E strange  Fagon  is 
quite  as  painful.  She  furnished  a  hcdade  retrograde  qui 
se  dit  a  droit  et  a  rehours,  the  first  stanza  of  which  is: 

"  Doulgour,  bonte,  gentillece, 
Noblece,  beaulte,  grant  hohnour, 

11  Le  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Sainte-Hilaire,  CEuvres  Completes  de 
Eiistaciie  Deschamps  (Paris,  1887),  Vol.  I,  p.  81.  On  p.  82  are  given 
the  directions  for  reading  the  ballade  here  printed: 

"Comment  ceste  Balade  se  diversifie  en  .viii.  ordres  et  se  list  par 
huit  manieres  differans  I'une  de  Vautre,  tout  par  honnes  rimes  et 
tousjours  revenans  a  une  meisme  sentence  et  conclusion  si  comme  il 
apparra  aux  lisans. 

La  premiere,  elle  se  list  de  I'ordre  droit  en  descendant  aval; 

La  seeonde,  elle  se  retrograde  du  premier  ver  en  reversant 
contremont ; 

La  tierce,  en  lisant  I'un  vers  a  droit  et  1 'autre  tout  arrebours; 

La  quarte,  en  prenant  au  ver  de  la  rubriche  par-dessus,  en  re- 
montant amont; 

La  quinte,  en  prenant  dessoubz,  au  piet  de  laditte  rubriche  et  retro- 
gradant  contremont  jusques  au  commencement; 

Le  sixte,  chaeune  couple  se  couppe  parmi  desseure; 

Item  semblablement  par  dessoubz  servent  a  laditte  rubriche; 

La  .vii^.,  les  vers  se  croissent  de  I'un  en  1 'autre; 

La  .viii^.,  ou  neuvyme,  les  mos  des  vers  se  raportent  I'un  centre 
1 'autre  en  bonne  substance  sanz  y  muer  la  matere. 

Deschamps  was  guilty  of  another  ballade  similarly  constructed.  See 
Opus  at.,  Vol.  I,  p.  95. 


52  THE  BALLADE 

Valour,  maintien  et  sagece, 
Humblece  en  doulz  plaisant  atour, 
Conforteresse  en  savour. 

Dueil  angoisseux  secourable, 

Acueil  bel  et  agreable."^^ 

And  she  also  contrived  a  balade  a  Rimes  Reprises.    Its 
intricacies  are  evident  in  the  stanza  given : 

"  Flour  de  beaulte  en  valour  souverain, 
Raim  de  bonte,  plante  de  toute  grace, 
Grace  d^avoir  sur  tons  le  pris  a  plain, 
Plain  de  savoir  et  qui  tons  maulz  efface. 
Face  plaisant,  corps  digne  de  louenge, 
Ange  en  semblant  ou  il  n'a  que  redire, 
D'yre  vuidie  a  vous  des  preux  ou  renge, 
Renge  mon  cuer  qui  fors  vous  ne  desire."  ^^ 

A  peculiarly  ornamented  ballade  was  discovered  by  Paul 
Meyer  in  a  manuscript  of  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century 
in  the  Hunterian  Museum.  He  calls  it  a  ballade  tanto- 
gramme,  and  cites  three  lines  and  the  refrain: 

"  Poure  Prouvence,  pueple  pen  plantureux 
Par  pestillence  pugni  presentement, 
Persequte,  perdu,  plaintif,  paroureux 


Paradis  paint,  peneux  pelerinage."^* 

A  mere  tour  de  force  of  a  different  variety  is  that  ballade 
of  Deschamps's  on  the  books  of  the  Bible.     Proper  names 

12  M.  Eoy,  (Euvres  poetiques  de  Christine  de  Pisan  (Paris,  1886), 
Vol.  I,  p.  119. 

13  M.  Eoy,  Opus  at,  Vol.  I,  p.  120. 

i*Paul  Meyer,  Documents  Manuscrits  de  L*Ancienne  Litterature  de 
la  France  Conserves  dans  les  Bibliotheques  de  la  Grande-Bretagne 
(Extraits  des  Archives  des  Missions  Scientifiques  et  Litteraires  2^ 
sSrie),  (Paris,  1871),  p.  119.     The  MS.  is  Q.  7. IS  {Haenel,  7.126). 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  63 

have  at  times  contributed  to  the  effect  of  great  poetry,  as  in 
Milton's  Paraddse  Lost  and  in  Shakespeare 's  iCingf  Henry 
the  Fifth;  but  the  discords  of  a  single  stanza  are  suflScient 
to  indicate  the  dullness  of  this  ballade  by  Deschamps : 

"  Paraboles,  Ecclestiastes  rent, 
Cantiques  lors,  sapience  verras; 
L'Ecelesiastiqiies  a  nous  s'estent, 
Ysaie,  puis  vient  Jheremias, 
Treuves  Baruch,  Ezechie,  et  si  as 
De  Daniel,  Osee,  Joel,  s'as 
Amos  apres,  Abdye  ainsis  a  nom, 
Jonas  Micheas,  et  ensiiit  Naom, 
Abbacuth,  Sophonie,  Aggeus,  Zacharie, 
Malaehias,  Maehabee,  s'escrie: 
L'ordre  SQavoir  du  lire  n'est  que  bon."^^ 

Jehan  Meschinot's  four  hallades  on  love  must  have  been 
very  difficult  to  put  together.  The  four  deal  severally  with 
''amour  sodale,"  ''amour  vertueuse,"  "amour  folic,''  and 
"amour  viceuse."  Each  is  composed  of  three  stanzas  of 
ten-syllable  lines  and  an  envoy  of  six  lines.  After  the 
fourth  syllable  of  every  line  there  is  an  abrupt  break.  The 
first  half  of  every  line  in  all  four  ballades  associates  some 
action  or  quality  with  love,  as  "Amour  loue,"  "Amour 
blame,"  and  in  all  four  ballades  the  portions  of  lines  pre- 
ceding the  break  are  identical.  The  second  part  of  the  line, 
however,  changes  in  every  ballade  according  to  the  special 
character  of  the  love  that  is  being  described.  A  glance  at 
the  first  three  lines  and  the  refrain  of  all  the  ballades  will 
illustrate  Meschinot's  scheme: 

15  Le  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire,  CEuvres  Completes  de 
Eustache  Deschamps  (Paris,  1882),  Vol.  Ill,  p.  289.  In  Gower's 
CinJcante  Balades,  XLIII,  and  in  the  Traitie  of  the  same  author,  VIT, 
VIII,  IX,  X,  XI,  definitely  employ  lists  of  proper  names  as  poetic 
ornaments. 


54 


THE  BALLADE 


Amour  sodale 

"  Amour  eommande     aux  gens  estre  loyaux. 
Amour  deffend  compaignie  maulvaise. 

Amour  acquiert        grans  biens  a  ses  feaax. 

Amour  blasme  qui  sans  mal  ne  veult  vivre." 

Amour  vertueuse 

"  Amour  eommande     aux  gens  estre  parfaiets. 
Amour  deffend  tous  deshonnestes  faiets. 

Amour  acquiert        aux  amans  los  et  prix  .  .  . 


Amour  blasme 


"  Amour  eommande 
Amour  deffend 
Amour  acquiert 


Les  meschans  et  infaicts." 

Amour  folle. 

a  tous  estre  joyeux. 
qu^on  ait  dueil  ne  souci. 
bruit  d'estre  gracieux. 


Amour  blasme 


"  Amour  eommande 
Amour  deffend 
Amour  acquiert 


eeux  qui  n'ont  robe  neufve.' 
Amour  viceuse 

aux  gens  vivre  en  luxure. 
ehastete  nette  et  pure, 
enfin  damnation  .  .  . 


Amour  blasme 


les  vivans  sans  laidure."^* 


Eccentricities  of  rime,  too,  were  in  order.  Cl-ement  Marot 
wrote  "du  jour  de  Noel,  sur  I'air  j'ai  veu  le  temps  que 
m'estoie  a  Basac/*  a  ballade  in  which  all  rime  words  end 
in  c,  as  the  first  stanza  here  given  shows : 

16  Arthur  de  la  Borderie,  Jean  Meschinot,  sa  Vie  et  ses  CEvvres, 
Bihliotheque  de  VEcole  des  Chartes,  t.  56  (Paris,  1895),  p.  620.  Cf. 
with  these  ballades,  the  Balade  [de  1 'Amour]  in  Le  Prisonnier  Des- 
conforte  (ed.  by  P.  Champion,  Paris,  1908,  p.  14),  in  which  every 
one  of  the  twenty-eight  lines  begins  with  the  word  * 'Amour." 


THE  BALLADE   IN  FRANCE  65 

"  Or  est  Noel  venu  son  petit  trac : 
Sus  done  aux  champs,  bergieres  de  respec: 
Prenons  chascun  panetiere  &  bissac, 
Flute,  flageol,  cornemuse,  &  rebec: 
Ores  n'est  pas  temps  de  clon-e  le  bee, 
Chantons,  sautons,  &  dansons  ric  a  ric: 
Puis  allons  veoir  I'Enfant  an  povre  nic, 
Tant  exalte  d'Helie,  aussi  d'Enoc, 
Et  adore  de  maint  grand  Roy,  &  Due : 
S'on  nous  dit  nac,  il  f  audra  dir  noc : 
Chantons  Noel  tant  au  soir,  qu'au  des-jucs."^'^ 

Acrostic  ballades  were  not  uncommon.  The  envoy  of 
Villon's  prayer  on  behalf  of  his  mother  spells  out  his  name. 
So  does  his  Balade  des  Contre-YeriUs.  The  "balade  que 
Villon  donna  a  un  gentilhomme  nouuellement  marie  pour 
I'envoyer  a  son  epouse  par  luy  conquise  a  I'espee,*'  embodies 
the  lady's  name  in  an  acrostic  that  runs  through  the  first 
two  stanzas.  Jean  Marot  wrote  a  ''ballade  de  la  Paran- 
gonne  des  Dames  dont  le  nom  est  escript  par  le  commence- 
ment des  lettres  capitales."^^ 

IT  CEuvres  de  Clement  Marot  avec  les  Ouvrages  de  Jean  Marot  son 
Pere  ceux  de  Michel  Marot  son  Fils  4'  ^^^  Pieces  du  Different  de 
Clement  avec  Frangois  Sagon  (A  la  Haye,  1731),  Tome  II,  p.  25. 
The  c  rimes  are  used  again  in  the  Ballade  du  Mazarin  Grand  Joueur 
de  Hoc,  given  below  with  the  historical  hallades. 

^^Opus  at.,  Tome  IV,  p.  326.     The  first  two  stanzas  follow: 
"Au  Catalogue  des  Dames  vertueuses 
Nous  voyons  or  ceste  Dam6  excellente, 
Noble  en  tons  faitz,  qui  par  gestes  heureuses 
En  nostre  sexe  tout  bon  bruyt  represente; 
De  sens,  d'honneur  c'est  I'addresse  &  la  sente 
Enumeree  entre  les  parangonnes; 
Bonne,  belle,  liberalle,  prudente, 
Eoyne  d'honneur,  exemplaire  des  bonnes. 

Elle  a  ce  cueur  qu'oeuvres  ambicieuses 
Tient  soubz  le  pied  &  les  humbles  augmente. 


66  THE   BALLADE 

The  ballade  in  dialogue  was  a  popular  diversion  with  the 
French  poets  of  three  centuries.  It  owes  some  of  its  fea- 
tures to  the  dehat  of  earlier  French  poetry,  which  arose, 
doubtless,  from  a  very  simple  principle  of  social  intercourse. 
It  might  happen  that  some  advocate  of  his  own  opinion 
would  persist  in  supporting  his  peculiar  views,  till  his 
wearied  opponent  retired  from  the  field.  Such  an  argu- 
ment was  the  essence  and  origin  of  the  lyrical  dehat. '^^  The 
ballade  dialogue  resembles  quite  closely  that  variety  of  the 
debat,  known  technically  as  the  tenso,  which  has  been  de- 
fined as  a  real  or  fictitious  dialogue  in  poetic  form  between 
two  poets  or  two  persons,  or  between  two  personifications. 
The  tone  of  these  dialogues  varied  from  hostility  to  tem- 
pered urbanity,  and  the  altercation  led  to  no  decision. 
Some  of  these  tensos  were  real  dialogues  in  the  sense  that 
the  debate  had  actually  occurred  between  two  poets.  The 
fictitious  tenso  was  the  work  of  one  author.^^ 

Some  such  early  literary  tradition  should  account  for  the 
frequent  use  of  dialogue  give-and-take  by  ballade  writers. 
At  any  rate  the  practice  was  common.-^     Sometimes  the 

Aux  povres  gens  parolles  gracieuses 
Joyeusement  avecques  dons  presente; 
Grande  en  vertuz  &  de  vices  absente 
Nous  la  tenons,  car  de  toutes  pcrsonnes 
Elle  est  dicte  par  raison  trSs  decente, 
Royne  d'honneur  exemplaire  des  bonnes.'* 
The  lady  in  question  is  '  *  Anne  de  Bretaigne,  Royne  de  France. ' ' 

10  Cf.  A.  Jeanroy,  Les  Origines  de  la  Pocsie  Lyrique  en  France  an 
Moyen  Age  (Paris,  1904),  Pt.  I,  Ch.  II,  passim.  Cf.  also  T.  H. 
Hanford,  The  Mediaeval  Debate  hetween  Wine  and  Water,  Publica- 
tions of  the  Modem  Language  Association,  XXI,  pp.  315-367. 

20  TT.  Knobloeh,  Die  Streitgedichte  im  Provenzalischen  vnd  Alt- 
franzosischen  (Breslau,  1866),  p.  13. 

21  Cf.  A.  Jeanroy,  Les  Origines  de  la  PoSsie  Lyrique  en  France  au 
Moyen  Age  (Paris,  1904),  p.  479.    Here  we  have  a  ballette  dialoguee. 


THE  BALLADE  IN   FRANCE  57 

speakers  divide  the  line,  as  in  Christine's  balade  a  re- 
sponses: 

"Mon  doulz  ami. — Ma  chiere  dame. 

— S'acoute  a  moy. — Tres  volentiers. 

M'aimes-tu  bien? — Ouil,  par  m'ame. 

— Si  fais  je  toy. — C'est  doiilz  mestiers. 

— De  quoy? — D'amer. — Voire,  sanz  tiers. 
— Deux  cuers  en  un. — Sanz  decepvoir. 

— Voire  aux  loiaulz. — Tu  as  dit  voir."^^ 

Sometimes  each  speaker  is  given  a  complete  line,  and  they 
alternate,  as  in  the  same  author's  Balade  a  vers  a  re- 
sponses: 

"  Amours,  escoute  ma  complainte  ? 
— Or  dis:  qu'as  tu?  de  quoy  te  plains'? 
— De  toy  par  qui  je  suis  destraintte. 
— Tort  as  quante  de  ee  te  complains? 
— Non  ay  voir,  car  majoye  estains. 
— Joye  en  aras  s'en  toy  ne  tient? 
— Trop  crain  le  grant  mal  qui  en  vient. 
— Pense  au  bien,  non  pas  au  dommage? 
— Vueille  ou  non,  d'un  seul  me  souvient.^^s 

In  another  ballade  each  speaker  is  given  a  group  of  lines  in 
the  stanza,  as  in  some  of  the  Cent  Ballades  (58) ;  in  the 
same  collection  a  whole  ballade  is  more  frequently  assigned 
to  a  single  disputant.  Christine,  again,  in  Le  Livre  du  Due 
des  Vi'ais  Amans,  has  a  ballade  in  which  the  characters,  a 
lady  and  her  lover,  speak  in  alternating  stanzas  thus : 

22  M.  Roy,  CEuvres  Poetiques  de  Christine  de  Pisan  (Paris,  1886), 
Vol.  I,  p.  121,  St.  1.  This  type  of  dialogue  ballade  is  very  commoii ; 
see  British  Museum  MS.  Landsdowne  380,  f.  258r,  and  J.  Quicherat, 
Les  Vers  de  Maitre  Henri  Baude  (Paris,  1856),  p.  26. 

23  M.  Roy,  Opus  at.,  Vol.  I,  p.  122,  st.  1. 


58  THE   BALLADE 

"  Belle,  il  me  fault  departir 
Et  esloignier  vo  presence, 
Dont  grant  dueil  me  fault  sentir, 
Car  je  mourray  de  pesanee 
Puis  que  plus  n'aray  Paisance 
De  veoir  vostre  doulz  vis 
Qui  est,  a  ma  eongnoiscence, 
Le  plus  perfait  qu'onques  vis. 

— ^Amis,  ne  puis  eonsentir 
De  bon  gre  vostre  partence, 
Car  sans  vous  sera  martir 
Mon  cuer  en  grief  penitence, 
Si  me  fait  mal  quant  je  pense 
Qu'ainsi  soit  de  moy  ra\T:s 
Cil  qui  est  par  excellence 
Le  plus  perfait  qu'onques  vis. 

— Dame,  bien  doit  amortir 
Tout  mon  bien  quant  souffisance 
Avions  tous  .II.  et  partir 
La  convient  sans  qu'aye  offense 
Faitte,  et  si  n'y  puis  deffense 
Mettre,  dont  j'enrage  vifs 
Pour  vous,  cuer  plein  d'essienee, 
Le  plus  perfait  qu'onques  vis. 

— Ou  que  faciez  residence, 
Foy,  amis,  je  vous  plevis. 
Car  vous  estes  sans  doubtance 
Le  plus  perfait  qu'onques  vis."^* 

An  amusing  debat  situation  is  found  in  two  seventeenth 
century  ballades  by  Madame  de  Deshoulieres  and  M.  le  Due 
de  Saint  Aignan.     The  second  stanza  and  the  envoy  of  the 

24  M.  Roy,  (Euvres  Poitiques  de  Christine  de  Pisan  (Paris,  1896), 
Vol.  Ill,  p.  180. 


THE   BALLADE   IN   FRANCE  59 

lady's  ballade  and  the  second  stanza  of  her  opponent's 
follow : 

"  Riches  atours,  table,  nombreux  valets, 
Fout  aujourd'hui,  les  trois  quarts  du  merite. 
Si  des  amants  soumis,  constants,  discrets, 
II  est  encore,  la  troupe  en  est  petite: 
Amour  d'un  mois  est  amour  decrepite. 
Amants  brutaux  sout  les  plus  applaudis. 
Soupirs  et  pleurs  feroient  passer  pour  grue : 
Faveur  est  dite  aussitot  qu'obtenue. 
On  n'aime  plus  comme  on  aimoit  jadis. 

Envoi 

Fils  de  Venus,  songe  a  tes  interets; 

Je  vais  changer  I'encens  en  camouflets: 

Tout  est  perdu,  si  ce  train  continue : 

Ramene-nous  le  siecle  d'Amadis. 

II  est  honteux  qu'en  cour  d'attraits  pourvue. 

Oil  politesse  au  comble  est  parvenue. 

On  n'aime  plus  comme  on  aimoit  jadis."^^ 

Eeponse  de  M.  Le  Due  de  Saint-Aignan. 

St.  2 

"  Nul  riche  atour,  nul  nombre  de  valets, 
Ne  contribue  a  mon  peu  de  merite; 
Toujours  me  tiens  au  rang  des  plus  discrets : 
Tant  mieux  pour  moi  si  la  troupe  est  petite. 
Amour  chez  moi  n'est  jamais  decrepite; 
Et  quand  les  sots  sont  les  plus  applaudis, 
Dusse-je  en  tout  passer  pour  une  grue, 
Faveur  se  cache  aussitot  qu'obtenue, 
Tant  j^aime  encor  comme  on  aimoit  jadis."-^ 

25  (Euvres  de  Madame  et   de  Mademoiselle  DeshouUdres    (Paris, 
1753),  Vol.  I,  p.  153. 

26  Opus  at.,  Vol.  I,  p.  155. 


60  THE  BALLADE 

A  certain  type  of  dialo^e  popular  in  the  Middle  Ages-^ 
has  its  analogues  in  ballade  literature.  The  older  conversa- 
tions between  body  and  soul  reappear  in  modified  form,  as 
is  seen  in  the  following  ballade  of  Deschamps  {dialogue 
entre  la  tete  et  le  corps)  : 

"  Malade  suy,  dist  le  chief  a  son  corps, 
Tant  que  ne  sgay  que  je  devenir  doye. 
— C'est  a  bon  droit,  vous  avez  boute  bors 
Les  droiz  membres  dont  je  vous  soustenoie, 
D'estranges  mains  aidier  ne  vous  pourroye, 
Ce  dist  le  corps,  car  vous  n'avez  oste 
Jambes  et  bras  et  le  destre  coste 
Et  m'avez,  joint  membres  d' autre  paraige 
Qui  m'ont  destruit  et  a  vous  la  sante. 
— Corps,  doulz  amis,  dy  moy  done  que  f  eray  ge  ?"^® 

A  reported  dispute  of  similar  character  is  found  in  a 
halade  in  which  "le  coeur  reproche  au  corps  d 'aimer  en 
trop  haut  lieu": 

Stanza  1. 
"  Mon  cuer  au  corps  chascun  jour  se  combat, 
En  lui  blasmant  son  penser,  sa  folic, 
Et  ce  qu'il  veult  amer  en  hault  estat, 
En  noblie  lieu,  en  treshaulte  lignie, 
Veult  que  le  corps  lui  tiengne  compangnie, 
En  le  menant  par  tout  ou  il  vourra, 
Ou  se  ce  non  le  cuer  dit  qu'il  mouiTa 
Et  que  par  ce  fera  le  corps  perir 
Puisque  veoir  sa  dame  ne  pourra : 
Ainsi  ont  trop  cuer  et  corps  a  souffrir. 

27  In  Eomania  for  1880,  p.  311,  G.  Paris,  in  a  review  of  G.  Klein- 
erts's  tfber  den  Streit  swischen  Leih  und  Seele  (Halle,  1880),  writes: 
"Le  veritable  dialogue  oii  le  corps  renvoie  k  I'ame  ses  reproches 
apparait  dans  iin  poSme  fran^ais.  *'  Cf.  Wright,  Poems  attributed 
to  Walter  Mapes,  p.  321. 

2S  Le  Marquis  de  Queiix  de  Saint-Hilaire,  (Euvres  Completes  de 
Eustaches  Deschamps  (Paris,  1887),  Vol.  V,  p.  344,  st.  1. 


THE  BALLADE   IN  FRANCE  61 

Stanza  3. 

Uun  pour  Tautre  languit  en  ce  debatj 
Force  est  de  corps  par  le  cuer  afeblie, 
Dont  le  corps  dit :  Pourquoy  me  f ais  tu  mat  ? 
Le  cuers  respont :  Tu  ne  me  sequeurs  mie. 
Mouvoir  me  veulx;  mayne  moy  vir  m'amie. 
Le  corps  tremblant  a  dit :  Qui  te  croira, 
Je  seray  mors,  aussi  Fen  t'occira; 
De  si  hault  lieu  ne  te  deust  souvenir. 
— Tu  pers  ton  temps,  autrement  n'en  sera. 
Ainsi  out  trop  cuer  et  corps  a  souffrir.^^o 

Villon's  well  known  hallade,  Dehat  du  Cuer  et  du  Corps, 
has  four  stanzas  and  envoy.  Here  the  poet's  heart  assumes 
the  role  usually  played  by  the  soul  in  more  serious  con- 
troversy with  the  body.^*^ 

Le  Dehat  du  Cuer  et  du  Corps  de  Villon. 

"  Qu'est-ce  que  i'oy  ? 

— Ce  suis. 

—Qui? 

— Ton  cuer. 
Qui  ne  tient  mais  qu*a  vng  petit  filet. 
Force  n'ay  plus,  substance  ne  liqueur, 
Quand  ie  te  voy  retraict  ainsi  seulet. 
Com  poure  chien  tappy  en  reculet. 
— Pour  quoy  est  ce? 

— Pour  ta  foUe  plaisance. 
—Que  fen  chault-il? 

— len  ay  la  desplaisance.  * 

29  Le  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire,  Opus  Cit.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  385. 

30  For  other  French  versions  of  the  debate  between  soul  and  bod/, 
cf.  G.  Kleinert,  Uher  den  Streit  zwischen  Leib  und  Seele  (Halle, 
1880),  p.  51,  p.  53.  Cf.  too,  C.  Euutz-Rees,  Charles  Sainte-Marthe 
(New  York,  1910),  pp.  333-334. 


62  THE  BALLADE 

— Laisse  m'en  paix ! 

— Pour  quoy? 

— I'y  penseray. 
— Quand  fera  ce? 

— Quant  feray  hors  d'enfance. 
— Plus  ne  t'en  dis. 

— Et  ie  m'en  passeray. 
Que  penses  tu? 

— Estre  homme  de  valeur. 
— Tu  as  trente  ans. 

— C'est  I'aage  d'vng  mullet. 
— Est  ce  enfance? 

— Nennil. 

— C7est  done  foUeur. 
Qui  te  saisist? 

—Par  ou? 

— Par  le  collet. 
Riens  ne  congois. 

— Si  fais;  mouches  en  let: 
L*vng  est  blane,  Fautre  noir,  c'est  la  distance. 
— Est  ce  done  tout? 

— Que  veulx  tu  que  ie  tance? 
Se  n^est  assez,  ie  recommenceray. 
— Tu  es  perdu! 

— I*y  met  tray  resistance. 
— Plus  ne  t'en  dis. 

— Et  ie  m'en  passeray. 

Envoi 
— Veulx  tu  viure  ? 

— Dieu  m'en  doint  la  puissance ! 
II  te  fault— 

Quoy? 

— Remors  de  conscience; 
Lire  sans  fin. 

— En   quoy  lire? 

— En  science; 


THE   BALLADE   IN   FRANCE  63 

Laisser  les  folz! 

— Bien  i'y  aduiseray. 
— Or  le  retien ! 

— Pen  ay  bien  souuenaice. 
— N'atens  pas  tant  que  viengne  k  desplaisance. 
Plus  ne  t'en  dis. 

— Et  ie  m'en   passeray."^^ 

Thus  the  form  of  the  ballade  became  more  and  more 
diversified.  Nevertheless,  whatever  external  features  were 
added  to  its  structure,  the  original  three  stanzas,  per- 
sistent rimes,  and  refrain  remained  unaltered.  The  fund 
of  ideas,  from  which  those  who  used  the  form  drew,  was 
fairly  limited.  These  ideas,  embodied  in  the  main  themes 
employed  by  the  writers  of  French  ballades,  suggest  a 
method  of  classification,  which  is  not  inevitable  but  merely 
convenient.  What  follows,  therefore,  is  in  the  nature  of  a 
survey  of  French  ballade  literature,  grouped,  so  far  as 
possible,^^  according  to  subject. 

The  Eeligious  Ballade 

The  shaping  of  the  ballade  in  the  puy  must  have  meant 
its  early  adaptation  to  religious  themes.  It  is  not  surpris- 
ing, therefore,  to  find  French  poets  during  three  centuries 
piously  inclined  to  make  this  fixed  form  do  service  for 
prayer  and  praise.  The  ballades  given  in  this  section  are 
chiefly  concerned  with  the  worship  of  Mary.     Sometimes 

31  A.  Longnon,  (Euvres  Completes  de  Frangoi^  Villon  (Paris,  1892), 
p.  113.  Swinburne's  translation  of  this  and  of  the  other  Villon 
ballades  is  noteworthy.  Cf.  P.  Champion,  FraiiQois  Villon,  Sa  Vie  et 
Son  Temps  (Paris,  1913),  Vol.  II,  pp.  130-132. 

32  Under  the  two  headings,  *' Ballade  Sequences,"  and  the  *' Ballade 
in  the  Drama,"  there  has,  obviously,  been  a  departure  from  the 
method  of  arrangement  by  subject.  It  is  also  true  that  the  doctrines 
of  Courtly  Love  inform  practically  all  the  ballades  cited. 


64  THE  BALLADE 

she  is  addressed  in  the  terms  of  profane  love ;  sometimes  the 
special  doctrines  connected  with  her  are  set  forth.  But 
other  religious  ideas  as  well  are  contained  in  ballade  litera- 
ture. The  persons  of  the  Trinity^^  are  duly  celebrated,  the 
Saviour  is  ceremonially  enshrined,  and  sin  and  salvation  are 
reverently  treated. 

Undoubtedly  the  most  beautiful  of  the  ballade  prayers  to 
the  holy  mother  is  Villon's  ^'feit  a  la  requeste  de  sa  mere 
pour  prier  Nostre-Dame": 

Ballade 

"  Dames  des  cieulx,  regente  terrienne, 
Emperiere  des  infemaux  palus, 
Recevez  moy,  vostre  humble  chrestienne, 
Que  eomprinse  soye  entre  vous  esleus, 
Ce  non  obstant  qu'onques  rien  ne  valus. 
Les  biens  de  vous,  Ma  Dame  et  Ka  Maistresse, 
Sont  trop  plus  grans  que  ne  suis  pecheresse, 
Sans  lesquelz  biens  ame  ne  pent  merir 
N'avoir  les  cieulx,  je  n'en  suis  jangleresse. 
En  ceste  foy  je  vueil  vivre  et  mourir. 

A  vostre  Filz  dictes  que  je  suis  sienne; 
De  luy  soyent  mes  pechiez  abolus; 
Pardonne  moy  comme  a  TEgipcienne, 
Ou  comme  il  feist  au  clerc  Theophilus, 
Lequel  par  vous  fut  quitte  et  absolus, 
Combien  qu'il  eust  au  deable  fait  promesse. 
Preservez  moy  que  face  jamais  ce, 
Vierge  portant,  sans  rompure  encourir, 
Le  sacrement  qu*on  celebre  a  la  messe. 
En  ceste  foy  je  vueil  vivre  et  mourir. 

83  A  halade  (f)  of  thirteen  stanzas  and  envoy  addressed  to  "Men 
Dieu''  and  beginning  with  the  line  "O  eternelle  Trinity "  appears  in 
Le  Prisonnier  Besconforte  (ed.  by  P.  Champion,  Paris,  1908,  p.  53), 


THE   BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  65 

Femme  je  suis  povrette  et  ancienne, 
Qui  riens  ne  s§ay;  oncques  lettre  ne  leus. 
Au  moustier  voy  dont  suis  paroissienne 
Paradis  paint,  ou  sout  harpes  et  lus. 
Et  ung  enfer  ou  dampnez  sont  boullus: 
L'ung  me  fait  paour,  I'autre  joye  et  liesse. 
La  joye  avoir  me  fay,  haulte  Deesse, 
A  qui  pecheurs  doivent  tous  recouvrir, 
Comblez  de  foy,  sans  fainte  ne  paresse. 
En  ceste  foy  je  vueil  vivre  et  mourir. 

V  ous  portastes,  digne  Vierge,  princesse, 
I  esus  regnant  qui  n'a  ne  fin  ne  cesse. 
L  e  Tout  Puissant  prenant  nostre  foiblesse, 
L  aissa  les  cieulx  et  nous  Vint  secourir, 
0  ffrit  a  mort  sa  tres  chiere  jeunesse; 
iVostre  Seigneur  tel  est,  tel  le  confesse. 
En  ceste  foy  je  vueil  vivre  et  mourir."^* 

A  prayer  to  the  Virgin,^^  probably  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury, offers  a  contrast  to  the  foregoing: 

"  Ave  douce  dame  de  paradis, 
Toute  pleine  de  grace  et  de  douchour. 
Pour  nous  auons  lautaine  ioie  aquiz, 
Bien  heureuse  de  nostre  uraie  amour, 

34  Francois  Villon,  CEuvres,  edit6es  par  un  Ancien  Archiviste 
(Paris,  1911),  p.  40.  Cf.  P.  Champion,  Frangois  Villon,  Sa  Vie  et 
Son  Temps  (Paris,  1913),  Vol.  I,  p.  16  ff. 

35  British  Museum  MS.  Additional  15^24,  fol.  49''.  Paul  Meyer, 
Extraits  du  MS.  Additional  15S24  du  Musee  Britannique,  Bulletin 
de  Societe  des  Anciens  Textes  Frangais  (Paris,  1882),  p.  69,  describes 
this  MS.  as  '*un  petit  volume  eerit  sur  parehemin  d'une  6criture 
italienne,  vers  la  fin  du  XV  si^cle  ou  plus  probablement  au  com- 
mencement du  XVI.  .  .  .  L'interet  de  ce  recueil  consiste  pour  une 
grande  part  k  avoir  ete  fait  en  Italic.  ...  II  porte  temoignage  de 
I'etat  qu'en  ce  pays  on  faisait  de  notre  poesie  au  temps  de  la 
Renaissance. ' ' 


66  THE  BALLADE 

Dez  pecheours  estez  port  et  seiour, 
En  nouz  sort  la  fontaine  de  tout  bien, 
Douce  mere,  pries  per  nous,  amen. 

Salue  fleur  odorant  de  touz  esliz, 
Du  quel  fruit  auons  tres  noble  pascour, 
A  nous  fesons  nostre  reclaim  tout  diz, 
Esperance  que  nous  done  uigour. 
Pleine  de  grace  entendez  ma  clamour, 
Quar  tressouvent  empleurant  me  souien. 
Douce  mere,  pries  pour  nous,  amen. 

Gale  sans  per  secourez  ce  chetiz. 
Qui  sui  en  nef  sans  auiron  dentour, 
Et  auouglez  par  mon  peche  porriz. 
Humble  dame  a  qui  ie  f  az  mon  plour. 
Prier  uostre  dolx  fil  nostre  segnour 
Quil  ait  merci  de  ce  poure  cristien, 
Douce  mere,  pries  pour  nous,  amen. 

0  yhesu  crist  nostre  uray  creatour, 
Aiez  misericorde  ama  f  olour, 
Pour  amour  de  ta  mere  aqui  me  tien, 
Douce  mere,  pries  pour  nous,  amen." 

Another  and  earlier  ' '  balade  de  Nostre  Dame  moult  belle ' ' 
was  written  by  Deschamps  about  1380.  In  the  first  stanza 
the  poet  prays: 

"  Secourez  moy,  douce  vierge  Marie, 
Port  de  salut  que  Ten  doit  reclamer; 
Je  sens  ma  nef  foible,  provre  et  pourrie, 
De  sept  tourmens  assaillie  en  la  mer; 
Mon  voile  est  roupt,  ancres  n'y  puet  encrer; 
J'ay  grant  paour  que  plunge  ou  que  n'affonde 
Se  voz  pitiez  envers  moy  ne  se  fonde."^^ 

36  Le  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire,  (Euvres  Computes  de 
Eustache  Deschamps  (Paris,  1878),  Vol.  I,  p.  258. 


» 


THE   BALLADE   IN   FRANCE  67 

I 
] 

Deschamps  *s  *  *  autre  balade  de  Nostre  Dame '  *  contains  an 
answer  to  the  preceding :  j 

"  Presente  suis,  je  te  viens  faire  aie,  j 
Mais  il  te  fault  mon  filz,  ton  Dieu,  amer 

Et  delaissier  t'erreur  et  ta  folie  ] 

Et  ce  monde  qui  te  fait  tourmenter;  , 
Pour  .vii.  tourmens  qu'il  convient  rebouter, 

Pran  .vii.  vertus  qui  font  la  vie  monde,  ' 

Se  ma  pitie  veulz  que  vers  toy  se  fonde.  j 

Humilite  et  Chastite  n^oublie 

Et  Charite,  qui  tant  fait  a  louer; 

Abstinance  soit  en  ta  compaignie,  I 

Paeience,  pour  tous  maulx  endurer. 

De  ton  avoir  doiz,  aux  povres  donner 

Pour  esehiver  d'enfer  la  mort  seeonde, 

Se  ma  pitie  veulz  vers  toy  que  se  fonde.  ' 

Par  ces  vertus  yert  ta  nef  redreeie,  I 

Et  si  pourras  ton  voile  asseurer,  ( 

Ne  les  tourmens  ne  te  mefferont  mie,  | 

Que  ne  puisses  a  droit  port  arriver;  ' 

Ton  voile  est  droit,  vueille  toy  ordener  I 

Si  que  peche  en  ton  vaissel  n'abonde,  ^ 
Se  ma  pitiez  veulz  que  vers  toy  se  fonde."^^ 

Comparaible  with  this  last,  is  Jean  Marot's  monologue,  < 

another  poem  in  which  the  Virgin  herself  speaks :  i 

"  Parlant  en  form  de  Ballade  ^ 

le  jour  de  son  Assomption.  i 

Devant  que  la  cause  premiere 

Fist  la  terre  &  la  mer  jadis,  , 

Devant  que  Dieu  erea  lumiere, 

Ne  qu'il  formast  ses  Benedicts,  | 

37  Le  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire,  Opus  Cit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  259.  \ 


68  THE   BALLADE 

Devant  ce  temps  que  je  vous  dis, 
Sentence  estoit  desja  donnee, 
Que  je  seroye  en  Paradis 
Sur  tous  les  angelz  couronnee. 

Maintenant  je  suis  Tresoriere 
Des  hautz  biens  de  gloire  assouvis; 
Maintenant  je  suis  emperiere 
Triumphante  en  royal  devis; 
Maintenant  les  benoitz  ravis 
Me  disent  fleur  sans  courroux  nee. 
Vous  estes  selon  nostre  advis, 
Sur  tous  les  angels  couronnee. 

Apres  que  boys,  prez  &  rivieres 
Seront  de  leurs  estres  bannys; 
Apres  que  par  loy  droicturiere 
Humains  seront  par  mort  finis, 
Des  haults  trones  d'honneur  garnys 
Comme  Royne,  preordonnee 
Vivray  par  siecles  infinis 
Sur  tous  les  angels  couronnee. 

Envoy 

Prince  en  ce  jour  dire  je  puys, 
Puisque  telle  gloire  m'est  donnee. 
J'ay  este,  je  serai  &  suys 
Sur  tous  les  angels  couronnee."*® 

The  Virgin  speaks  for  herself,  too,  in  an  anonymous 
hallade,  probably  of  the  fifteenth  century  :** 

38  CEuvres  de  Clement  Marot  avec  les  Ouvrages  de  Jean  Marot  son 
Pere  ceux  de  Michel  Marot  son  Fils  4"  ^es  Pieces  du  Different  de 
Clement  avec  Frangois  Sagon  (A  la  Haye,  1731),  tome  IV,  p.  353. 

30  See  note  on  p.  71  below.  The  ballade  is  found  in  MS.  p.  S4408, 
f.  50*-51'",  of  the  Bihliothdque  Nationale. 


THE   BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  OV 

Argumentum  i 

Nigra  sum  sed  formosa  filia  Jerusalem.    Canticorum  1°.  j 

"  Ballade  en  la  personne  de  la  Vierge  ^ 
Or  sus  levez  hault  la  veue, 

Deuotes  filles  de  syon,  ; 

Voyez  comment  dieu  ma  preueue,  ] 

Ains  du  ciel  la  perfection  J 

Tant  que  par  preelection;  | 

Et  oultre  la  forme  mortelle,  j 

Je  suis  par  sa  protection  ' 
Noire  en  couleur  mais  toute  belle. 

Noire  en  couleur  mauez  congneue,  j 

Portant  vostre  condition,  \ 

Dhomme  et  de  femme  ainsy  venue,  \ 

Et  subiecte  en  affliction.  ■ 

Mais  sentez  que  sans  fiction,  ' 

De  dieu  suis  mere  naturelle,  \ 

Tost  direz  ma  conception,  > 

Noire  en  couleur  mais  toute  belle.  ^ 

Nolite  me  considerare  quod  fusca  sim,  quia  decolar-  1 

avit  me  sol.     Canticorum  1°  j 

) 
Ne  vous  artz  si  mauez  veue,  J 

Pale  et  sans  consolation,  \ 

Car  le  vray  soleil  ma  rendue  ' 

Sans  couleur  par  compassion.  ] 

Quand  lay  veu  souffrir  passion  ' 

Pour  lohmme  quj  luy  fut  rebelle, 

La  fuz  en  desolation. 

Noire  en  couleur  mais  toute  belle. 

Envoy  \ 

Prince  cest  vostre  Intencion  j 

Que  Marie  humble  columbelle  ^ 

Soit  dicte  par  preuention 

Noire  en  couleur  mais  toute  belle."  \ 

Nicolas  baudry. 


70  THE  BALLADE  \ 

Molinet  's  Oraison  a  la  Vierge  Marie  belongs  to  the  second 
half  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  has  all  the  decorative 

effect  of  that  ornate  period:  \ 

{ 

"  0  recouurance  moult  plaisant !  i 

Deuat  vous  me  suys  presente,  ] 

En  ce  lieu  a  genoulx  disant  j 

Des  maulx  quay  fait  la  verite.  i 

Pour  ce  que  en  suys  desherite,  ' 
Vers  dieu  dont  poure  me  reclame. 
Pour  moster  de  ma  pourete 

Ayez  pitie  de  ma  poure  ame.  ; 

0   esclarboucle  reluysant!  ; 

Nuyct  et  iour  sans  obscurite,  ^ 

Esmeraulde  trescler  luysant,  / 

Et  saphir  de  securite; 

Dyamant  de  mundicite  ^ 

Rubis  rayant  cler  comme  flame, 
Je  vous  requiers  en  charite 
Ayez  pitie  de  ma  poure  ame. 

0  cypres  aromatisant!  , 

Palme  de  grant  suauite, 
Cedre  sus  tous  resplendissant, 
Oliue  de  fertilite; 

A  matres  grant  necessite  ' 

Vous  prie  et  requier  saincte  dame,  ] 

Quant  a  mourir  seray  cite,  i 

Ayez  pitie  de  ma  poure  ame. 


0  rose  odoriferant! 
Et  vray  lis  de  virginite, 
Violette  tres  flourissant, 
Marguerite  dhumilite, 
Mariolaine  de  purite, 
Romarin  flairant  comme  basme. 
Par  vostre  clemence  et  pitie, 
Ayez  pitie  de  ma  poure  ame. 


THE   BALLADE   IN   FRANCE  71                     J 

Prince  eternal  en  trinite,  j 

Trois  personnes  ie  vous  reclame,  ] 

Et  vous  requiers  en  vnite  ^ 
Ayez  pitie  de  ma  poure  ame. 


»>40  ] 


Praise  Of  the  Virgin  spoken  by  her  own  son  is  also  found  i 
in  ballade  form  :*^ 

Argument 

Ballade  en  laquelle  est  escript  j 

Comme  le  fameux  Jesuchrist  ] 

Ont  a  sa  mere  toute  belle  i 

Quelle  est  pour  luy  et  luy  pour  elle.  i 

"  Ma  mere  ou  ma  face  empraincte,  j 

Subiect  ou  mon  corps  fut  emprainct,  j 

Nayez  ennuy  soucy  ne  eraincte  ! 

Du  peche  que  homme  faict  crainct,  1 

Car  vostre  concept  nest  attainct  j 

Du  crime  de  commune  loy;  ,| 

Ne  doubtez  de  peche  le  tainct,  j 

Je  suis  pour  vous  et  vous  pour  moy.  ' 

Vostre  pudique  chair  et  saincte 

Pour  moy  qui  suis  des  sainctz  le  sainct  ' 

Fut  par  grace  vestue  et  ceincte,  < 

De  purite  le  sacre  sainct  ceincte,  ' 

Et  plus  je  fais  que  laspid  sainct, 

Est  mys  par  vous  en  desarroy. 

Vela  comment  soubz  secret  mainct, 

Je  suis  pour  vous  et  vous  pour  moy. 

*oLcs  Faiciz  et  Dictz  de  Feu  de  Bonne  Memoire  Maistre  Jehan                 1 

Molinet  (Paris,  1531),  Sig.  Pii^  j 

41  MS.  fr.  M408,  fol.  49^-50'-,  of  the  Bihliotheque  Nationale.  This                  -' 

is  a  collection  of  chants  royaux,  hallades  and  rondeaux  in  honor  of  the 

Virgin  Mary  (sixteenth  century).     There  are  twenty-two  ballades.  j 


72  •  THE   BALLADE 

Vous  nauez  oz,  sang,  nerf  ne  joinete, 
Que  grace  nayct  au  corps  conjoinct, 
Diuinite  fut  en  vous  joinete, 
Cest  moy  a  dieu  mon  pere  joinct, 
Jay  tousiours  este  vostre  adioincte, 
Comme  tienct  saincte  eglise  et  foy. 
Par  quoy  mere  ne  craignez  point, 
Je  suis  pour  vous  et  vous  pour  moy. 

Envoy 

Se  aucun  de  erreur  vous  mord  ou  poinct, 
Nen  soyez  pourtant  en  esmoy. 
Car  pour  premier  et  dernier  poinct, 
Je  suis  pour  vous  et  vous  pour  moy." 
Jehan  couppel. 

The  idea  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  is  touched  on 
in  the  following  ballade,  in  which  the  Virgin  is  addressed  ; 

as  a  substitute  for  the  antique  muse:*^  J 

Ballade  \ 

"  Les  payens  versificateurs  * 

Pryent  le  muses  benignement,  ; 

Mais  noz  prudentz  predicateurs  i 
Oyent  quilz  ont  failly  grandement, 

Quj  font  maintenant  aultrement,  i 

Invocant  de  premiere  assiete  [ 

En  leurs  sermons  treshumblement,  i 

La  saincte   nymphe   au   grand   poete.  i 

Ingenieux  compositeurs,  j 

Prennons  tous  manifestement  j 

Aux  malingz*^  preuaricateurs  i 

*^MS.  fr.  24408,  fol.  69'-70'',  of  the  Biblictheque  Nationale.     It  I 

seems  to  be  of  the  sixteenth  century.  i 

*8Not  in  Godefroy.  ^ 


THE   BALLADE  IN   FRANCE  73 

Quilz  sabusent  totalement, 

Disant  la  vierge  faulsement 

En  peche  amour  este  faicte, 

Veu  quelle  estoit  diuinement 

La  saincte  nymphe   au  grand  poete. 

Subtilz  et  facondz  orateurs 

Venez  par  escriptz  amplement, 

Dire  comme  vrays  amateurs 

Quelle  est  amant  tout  element, 

Sans  peche  generalement, 

De  dieu  premier  discrete, 

Par  grand  honneur  specialement 

La  saincte  nymphe   au  grand  poete. 

Enuoy 

La  vierge  fut  benignement 

Dicte  par  loraison  celeste, 

De  Gabriel  certainement 

La  saincte  nymphe  au  grand  poete." 

Robert  bellenger. 

A  hallade**  contained  in  a  manuscript  of  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale  which  is  described  as  '*sur  rimmaculee  Concep- 
tion," merely  touches  on  that  aspect  of  the  subject.  The 
poet  uses  elaborate  similes  drawn  from  the  miracles  of 
spring  to  illuminate  the  doctrines  of  original  sin  and  sal- 
vation : 

"  Le  grant  yuer  par  sa  froidure 
Du  beau  verger  dhumanite 
Hatta  les  fleurs  et  la  verdure, 
Luy  ostant  toute  amenite. 

44  MS.  fr.  19369,  fol.  78^-79',  of  the  BihliotMque  Nationale.  This 
manuscript  contains  twenty-seven  ballades.  The  librarian  whom  I 
consulted  believed  the  handwriting  to  be  of  the  early  sixteenth 
century. 


74  .  THE  BALLADE 

Jusques  a  ce  que  en  dignite 
Zephire  vent  delicieux, 
Engendra  par  benignite 
Le  doulx  printemps  solatieux. 

Par  lyuer  de  froide  nature 
Jentens  dadam  la  vilite, 
Qui  gasta  la  belle  omature 
De  toute  sa  posterite. 
Fors  de  la  fleur  de  purite, 
Que  dieu  son  cher  filz  gracieux 
Esleut  en  grace  et  dignite, 
Le  doulx  printemps  solatieux. 

Jamais  en  ceste  creature 
Vil  peehe  neust  activite, 
Pour  tant  que  diuine  omature 
La  preseruoit  deprauite. 
En  la  saincte  festivite 
De  sou  sainet  concept  precieux, 
Qui  la  prenne  en  suauite, 
Le  doulx  printemps  solatieux. 

Enuoy 

Prince,  pour  non  vtilite, 
Malgre  sathan  fallatieux, 
EUe  este  en  toute  humilite, 
Le  doulx  printemps  solatieux." 

A  similar  parallel  between  the  solace  of  spring  and  the 
alleviating  power  of  divine  intercession  is  found  in  the  same 
manuscript,  from  which  three  other  illustrations  have  been 
drawn : 

Ballade*^ 

"  Au  verger  de  dieu  ordonne, 
Logis  des  luimains  et  repere, 

45  MS.  fr.  IS4408,  fol.  51''-52',  of  the  BihliotMque  NationcHe. 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  75 

Se  apparoit  le  desordonne 
Serpent  quj  suprent  nostre  pere. 
En  ce  lieu  set  rien  ny  prospere, 
Quand  en  sourt  au  printemps  seulette 
Pour  adam  quj  plus  biens  ne  espere 
La  blanche  fleur  de  violette. 

Au  frays  moys  de  Mars  obstine; 
Sourt  la  fleur  quj  rigeur  tempere 
Comme  est  de  dieu  predestine 
Faisant  abysmer  la  vipere. 
Dieu  par  dessus  nature  opere 
Quand  sa  vertu  rend  si  complete, 
Quon  voit  contre  tout  impropere 
La  blanche  fleur  de  violette. 

Vierge,  je  me  suis  ordonne, 
Figurer  toy  sainete  nom  prospere 
A  ceste  fleur  tu  as  donne 
Dodeur  quj  tons  aultres  supere. 
II  te  plaist  et  ton  filz  limpere, 
Supporte  done  ma  plume  necte, 
Quj  te  painct  voulant  te  complere 
La  blanche  fleur  de  violette. 

Enuoy 
Prince,  la  vierge  est  nostre  mere, 
Quj  son  filz  doulcement  allecte, 
Que  je  nomme  sans  coulpe  amere 
La  blanche  fleur  de  violette." 

Pierre  beuard 

In  a  ballade  of  Clement  Marot  the  familiar  parallel  be- 
tween Mary's  Son  and  the  devoted  pelican  is  drawn: 

"Le  pellican  de  la  forest  celique, 
Entre  ses  faictz  tant  beaulx  et  nouvelletz, 
Apres  les  cieulx  et  I'ordre  archangelique 
Voulut  creer  ses  petis  oyselletz. 


76  I  THE  BALLADE 

Puis  s'envola,  les  laissa  tous  seuletz, 

Et  leur  donna,  pour  mieulx  sur  la  terre  estre, 

La  grand'  forest  de  paradis  terrestre, 

D'arbres  de  vie  amplement  revestue, 

Plantez  par  luy,  qu'on  peult  dire  en  tout  estre 

Le  pellican  qui  pour  les  siens  se  tue. 

Mais  ce  pendant  qu'en  ramage  musique 
Chantent  aux  boys  comme  rossignolletz, 
Un  oyseleur  cauteleux  et  inique 
Les  a  deceuz  a  glus,  rhetz  et  fiUetz, 
Dont  sont  banniz  des  jardins  verdeletz, 
Car  des  haultz  fruictz  trop  voulurent  repaistre, 
Parquoy  en  lieu  sentant  pouldre  et  salpestre 
Par  plusieurs  ans  mainte  souffrance  ont  eue, 
En  attendant  hors  du  beau  lieu  champestre 
Le  pellican  qui  pour  les  siens  se  tue. 

Pour  eulx  mourut  cest  oysel  deifique, 

Car  du  hault  boys  plein  de  sainctz  Angeletz 

Vola  qa.  bas  par  charite  pudique, 

Ou  il  trouva  corbeaux  tresordz  et  laydz, 

Qui  de  son  sang  ont  faict  maintz  ruysseletz, 

Le  tourmentant  a  ^extre  et  a  senestre. 

Si  que  sa  mort,  comme  I'on  peult  congnoistre, 

A  ses  petis  a  la  vie  rendue. 

Ainsi  leur  fait  sa  bonte  apparoistre 

Le  Pellican  qui  pour  les  siens  se  tue. 

Envoy 
Les  corbeaux  sont  ces  Juifs  exilez 
Qui  ont  a  tort  les  membres  mutilez 
Du  Pellican,  c'est  du  seul  Dieu  et  maistre. 
Les  Oyseletz  sont  Humains,  qu'il  feit  naistre, 
Et  I'Oyseleur,  la  Serpente  tortue 
Qui  les  decent,  leur  faisant  mescongnoistre 
Le  Pellican  qui  pour  les  siens  se  tue."*® 

4«  Pierre   Jannet,   CEuvres   Computes  de   CUment   Marot    (Paris, 
1873),  Vol.  II,  p.  76. 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  77  j 

The    deity    himself   speaks    in    Molinet's    Oradson   par  j 

Maniere  de  Ballade  :*''  j 

"  Nous,  dieu  damours,  createur,  Roy  de  gloire,  ] 
Salut  a  tous  vrays  amans  dhumble  affaire. 

Comme  il  soit  uray  que,  depuis  la  victoire  ^ 
De  nostre  filz  sur  le  monte  de  caluaire, 

Plusieurs  souldars  par  peu  de  congnoissanee '  j 

De  noz  armes  font  au  dyable  aliance.                      '  ^ 

Si  vous  faisons  pour  vostre  bien  mander  'i 

Leseu  dargent  au  chief  dor  luysant  cler,  j 

A  cinq  playes  que  quant  prescheurs  ou  carmes,  ' 

Com  vrays  heraulx  les  vouldront  blasonner  j 

Loyaulx  amans  recongnoissez  ces  armes.  ' 

Divinite  du  chief  dor  pouez  croire  j 

Pare  innocence  est  largent  ou  pourtraire,  ) 

Voulurent  iuifz  les  plays  et  eneoire  [ 

Parfist  longis  louuraige  necessaire;  j 

Pour  vrays  amans  deliurer  de  greuance,  ^ 

Et  si  donnons  et  oetroions  puissance,  ■ 

A  leglise  militante  passer,  ' 
A  noz  gaiges  tous  ceulx  qui  retoumer 

Vouldront  a  nous,  mais  quen  pleurs  et  en  larmes  j 


De  cueur  constrict  et  foy  sans  abuser. 


Loyaulx  amans  recongnoissez  ces  armes.  I 

Besoing  sera  quen  ayez  la  memoire  i 

Du  dernier  iour  que  nous  vouldrons  retraire,  i 

Dessus  le  val  iosaphat  chose  est  voire  -. 

Pour  comdampner  lancien  aduersaire. 

La  monsterons  ces  armes  sans  nuisance:  I 

Pour  nostre  gent  remettre  en  ordonnance, 

Et  la  vouldont  souldees  deliurer,  j 

Lors  coniuendra  le  plus  hardy  trembler,  : 

Car  ny  vauldront  espees  ne  guisarmes,  j 

Mais  quant  orrez  noz  trompettes  sonner, 

Loyaulx  amans  recongnoissez  ces  armes. 

*T  Les  Faictz  et  Bictz  de  Feu  de  Bonne  Memoire  Maistre  Jehan  j 

Molinet  (Paris,  1531),  Sig.  A.  j 


78  ,  THE  BALLADE 

Prince,  pitie  voult  ce  mand  impetrer, 
Quant  il  nous  pleust  pierre  a  Romme  poser, 
Pour  recepuoir  tous  verteux  gens  darmes, 
Dont  se  voulez  en  nostre  regne  entrer, 
Loyaulx  amans  Recongnoissez  ces  armes." 

A  hcdlade  of  Alain  Chartier's,  ''foy  la  premiere  vertu,'' 
is  likewise  addressed  to  the  deity : 

"  Dieu  tout  puissant,  de  qui  noblesse  vient 
Et  dont  descent  toute  perfection, 
A  tout  cree,  tout  nourrist,  tout  soustient 
Par  sa  haulte  digne  provision; 
Mais,  pour  tenir  la  terre  en  union, 
A  ordonne  chaseun  en  son  office, 
Ly  ung  seigneur,  I'autre  en  subjection, 
Pour  foy  garder  et  pour  vivre  en  justice. 

Cil  qui  de  dieu  le  plus  de  honneur  obtient 

Par  seigneurie  et  domination. 

Plus  est  tenu  et  plus  luy  appartient 

D'avoir  en  luy  entiere  affection, 

Crainte  et  honneur,  bonne  devocion 

Et  vergoine  de  meffait  et  de  vice, 

Et  faire  tout  en  bonne  entention. 

Pour  foy  garder  et  pour  vivre  en  justice. 

Cil  est  noble  et  pour  tel  se  maintient 

Sans  vantrie  et  sans  decepcion, 

Qui  envers  dieu  obeissant  se  tient 

Et  fait  le  droit  de  sa  profession; 

Qui  quiert  noblesse  en  autre  opinion. 

Fait  a  dieu  tort  et  au  sang  prejudice; 

Car  dieu  forme  noble  condition 

Pour  foy  garder  et  pour  vivre  en  justice. 

Povre  et  riche  meurt  en  corruption, 
Noble  et  commun  doivent  a  dieu  service; 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  79 

Mais  les  nobles  ont  exaltation 

Pour  foy  garder  et  pour  vivre  en  justice 


"48 


f 


There  are  religious  ballades,  too,  that  treat  of  the  ever 
popular  seven  sins.  One  manuscript  contains  seven  bal- 
lades on  the  **sept  pechez  mortelz.'* 

Premierement  I 

Sur  le  peche  dorgueil.*^  1 

"  Sens  orguilleux  qui  estes  peruers, 
Voz  esperitz  qui  sont  dorgueil  couuers  ' 

Et  obfusquez  de  ville  couuerture 

Descouurez  les  et  les  tenez  ouuers.  ] 

Et  contemplez,  ie  vous  pry  par  mes  vers,  : 

Que  vostre  chair  deuiendra  pourriture.  I 

Vous  estes  faictz  du  lymon  de  la  terre,  j 

Et  une  foys  y  toumerez  grant  erre,  j 

Que  ne  voulez  aduiser  ne  congnoistre.  j 

Meulx  vous  vauldroit  acquerre  humilite  i 

Que  les  honneurs  ie  vous  dy  verite. 
Car  a  la  fin  orgeil  decort  son  maistre.  i 

Point  ne  voyez  et  auez  les  yeulx  vers.  j 

Que  vng  temps  viendra  que  vous  gyrez  en  vers  : 

Viande  a  vers  o  quel  griefue  poineture.  ■ 

Et  vous  voulez  par  voz  desirs  reuers,  j 

Preemmer  a  tours  et  a  trauers.  ] 

*8  K.   F.   Bartseh,   Chrestomathie   de   I  'Ancien  Frangais    (Leipzig,  ] 

1884),  p.  447.  , 

^9  MS.  fr.  £306,  fol.  20'"-20^,  of  the  Bihliotheque  Nationale,  said 
by  the  librarian  to  be  of  the  early  sixteenth  century.  These  ballades 
were  printed  also  by  Verard  in  the  volume  Les  Eegnars  Traversant  les 
Perilleuses  Voyes  des  Folles  Fiances  du  Monde  (1503)  under  the  title 
*'des  vices  et  des  vertus,'*  with  link  pieces  of  octosyllabic  lines  not 
given  in  the  MS.  Cf.  E.  Picot,  Une  Supercherie  d'Antoine  Verard 
{Romania,  1893),  p.  248. 


80  ,  THE  BALLADE 

A  toutes  gens  de  quelconque  stature  ; 

Vous  mesprisez  et  menez  tousiours  guerre,  \ 

Aux  pouures  gens  voulans  paradis  querre.  J 

Et  de  vertuz  leurs  ames  du  tout  paistre  j 

Qui  de  leurs  corps  nont  curiosite.  f, 

Desistez  vous  de  celle  vanite,  i 
Car  a  la  fin  orgeil  decort  son  maistre. 

Las  lueifer  auecques  ses  comiers  i 

Par  son  orgeil  cruel,  faulx,  et  diuers,  , 

Qui  jadis  fut  si  belle  creature,  ' 

De  paradis  fut  gette  es  enfers.  , 

Lequelz  depuis  sort  estez  ou  yuers,  | 

Sont  ennemys  de  Ihumaine  nature.  ; 

Aussy  bruyant  vous  estez  que  tonnerre.  < 

Vanteurs,  gorriers  reluysans  comme  verre.  \i 

Ambicieux  dont  vous  fault  mes  congnoistre.  .1 

Mais  vous  serez  par  vostre  iniquite  j 

De  vostre  espoir  du  tout  disherite.  , 
Car  a  la  fin  orgeil  decort  son  maistre. 

Prince,  vueillez  de  vostre  fait  enquerre,  I 

Et  tout  cogneu  ne  vouldrez  point  acquerre  ' 
Tous  ses  honneurs  dont  farciz  voulez  estre, 

Mais  vous  laissez  grant  granite  | 

Pour  euader  toute  perplexite,  ] 

Car  a  la  fin  orgeil  decort  son  maistre."  i 

Undoubtedly  in  the  same  class  with  the  foregoing,  be- 
longs Deschamps's  ballade,  called'  by  his  editor  Allegorie  i 
Satirique  des  Sept  Peches  Capitaux: 

"  N'a  pas  long  temps  qu^en  une  region 
Vi  en  dormant  dolereuse  assemblee, 
Ce  fut  Orgueil  chevauchant  le  lion, 
Ire  empres  luy  qui  se  fiert  d'une  esp^e, 
Sur  un  loup  siet;  Envie  la  derv6e 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  81 

Dessus  un  chien  aloit  fort  murmurant, 
Avarice  gouverne  la  contree : 
Onques  ne  vi  si  dolereuse  gent. 

Car  celle  avoit  or,  joyaulx  a  foison, 
Et  languissoit  d'acquerre  entalentee ; 
Paresce  apres  dormoit  une  saison, 
En  Fan  n^a  pas  sa  quenoille  filee; 
Sur  I'asne  siet  la  povre  escheveulee 
Qui  en  touz  lieux  est  toudis  indigent; 
Glotonnie  fut  sur  un  ours  posee, 
Onques  ne  vi  si  dolereuse  gent. 

Celle  mettoit  tout  a  destruction, 
Par  gourmander  avoit  la  pence  emflee ; 
Luxure  estoit  moult  pres  de  son  giron 
Qui  chevauchoit  une  truie  esehaufee, 
Mirant,  pignant  s'aloit  comme  une  fee 
Et  attraioit  maint  homme  en  regardant; 
Mais  trop  puoit  sa  trace  et  son  alee, 
Onques  ne  vi  si  dolereuse  gent. 

L'Envoy. 

Princes,  moult  est  la  terre  desertee 
Ou  telz  vices  sont  seignour  et  regent; 
Regne  s'en  pert  et  ame  en  est  dampnee, 
Onques  ne  vi  si  dolereuse  gent."^** 

Ballades  on  Death 

Closely  allied  to  the  religious  hallades  in  tone  and  in  gen- 
eral character  are  those  in  which  the  various  aspects  of 
death  are  treated.  A  fifteenth  century  hallade^^  represen- 
tative of  this  class  follows : 

50  Le  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire,  (Euvres  Completes  de 
Eustache  Deschamps  (Paris,  1878),  Vol.  I,  p.  319. 

51  British  Museum  MS.  Barley  4397,  fol.  120^-121'. 

7 


82  ,  /  THE  BALLADB 

"  Pecheur  qui  scez  qui  morir  doiz, 
Et  que  cy  nest  pas  ton  entente, 
Pense  a  ton  bien  mantesfois, 
A  la  mort  qui  tant  test  presente, 
Aux  mondains  ne  mets  ton  entente, 
Car  nas  a  viure  deux  iours  ne  trois, 
De  terre  es  toute  puante, 
Retourner  cy  fault  vne  fois. 

Tons  les  jours  a  ton  oeil  tu  vois 
Nature  sieuyr  coUe  sente 
Pape,  prelas,  princes,  et  roix, 
Du  contraire  nul  ne  sen  vante, 
Et  pour  ce  ton  pechie  guermente, 
Et  diz  en  toy  et  recongnois 
Que  de  terre  es  toute  puante, 
Retourner  cy  fault  vne  fois. 

Paradiz  aras  se  men  crois, 
Ne  cuide  pas  que  je  te  mente. 
Preng  garde  a  ton  fait  aincois, 
Que  lame  de  ton  corps  sesuente 
II  fault  premier  quil  se  repente, 
Et  puis  que  dye  bien  congnois 
Que  de  terre  es  toute  puante 
Retourner  cy  fault  vne  fois. 

Princes,  qui  pendiz  en  la  crois, 
Et  morir  volz  de  mort  cruante 
Pour  le  pecheur,  ainsi  le  crois 
Racheter  de  playe  doulante. 
Veuillez  par  ta  digne  puissante 
Que  dire  puist  de  ceur  courtois 
Que  de  terre  es  toute  puante 
Retourner  cy  fault  vne  fois." 

Death  is  the  theme,  too,  of  another  ballade^  in  manu- 
script : 

52  MS.  fr.  1707,  fol.  26,  of  the  BibliotUque  NationaXe. 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  Od 

Balade  de  la  Mort 

"  Moy,  qui  suis  mort  a  tous  humains, 
Fais  assavoir  comme  desse 
Que  je  tieng  leur  vie  en  mes  mains. 
Fy  de  leur  orgueil  et  richesse ! 
Tous  fais  toumer  a  la  reuerse, 
Quat  par  la  hault  divin  vouloir 
ffais  venir  jeunesse  et  viellesse 
En  terre  pourrir  et  manoir. 

Pensent  ils  que  mes  cris  soient  vains*? 
Bien  le  scaront  se  deulx  j'approche. 
Ou  est  arthus  ou  est  gauuains,^^ 
Hector  qui  tant  eult  de  proesse? 
Chasteaulx  villes  ne  forteresse 
Contre  moi  ne  leur  peult  valoir. 
Qui  que  je  voeul  prens  ou  delesse 
En  terre  pourrir  et  manoir. 

ffuyent  fort,  soient  pres  ou  loings, 
Dansent,  chantet,  men'as  liesse. 
Voisent  chasser  aux  cerfz  aux  daings, 
Prennent  perdris  mainnet  en  lesse. 
Chiens  et  levriers,  cela  n'oppresse 
Ma  grant  vertu  ne  mon  pouoir. 
Tous  fais  venir  par  une  adresse, 
En  terre  pourrir  et  manoir. 

Prince,  come  dame  et  mestresse 
Autant  m'est  le  blanc  que  le  noir. 
Au  pas  quant  Fame  le  corps  lesse. 
En  terre  pourrir  et  manoir." 

A  Balade  de  la  Mort^*  is  found  also  in  Bouchet*s  work: 

"  Home  aueugle  des  plaisirs  de  ce  mode, 
Pense  que  c'est  de  ton  estre  &  nature — 

53  Cf.  p.  88,  The  ' '  Uhi  Sunt"  Ballade. 

54  Jehan  Bouchet,  XIII  Eondeaulx  Differens.     Auec  XXV  Balades 
Vifferentes  (Paris,  1536),  Sig.  Dvii^-Dviii^ 


84  THE   BALLADE 

Sy  maintenant  tu  a  force  &  faeonde 
Richesse,  auoir,  beaulte,  sante,  droicture — 
Demain  seras  tresuille  pouriture 
Que  le  plus  grand  de  tes  amis  fuyra; 
Tres  uolontiers  ton  corps  on  conduyra 
lusques  en  terre  a  son  dernier  conuy, 
Quant  ast  de  Fame  en  ingement  yra 
Pour  recepuoir  ce  que  aura  desseruy. 

Tu  es  vng  sac  tout  plain  de  terre  imude, 
Beau  par  dessus  dedans  plain  de  laidure, 
De  toy  ne  vient,  ne  procede  &  redonde 
Que  infection  qu'a  grad  peine  on  endure; 
Tu  ne  redz  rien  de  bouche  &  nez  qu'ordure, 
Tant  que  viuras  de  toy  ne  sortira 
Que  puanteur  &  quant  departira 
L'ame  de  toy,  qui  te  aura  bien  seruy, 
Par  deuant  dieu  tons  ses  faictz  on  lyra, 
Pour  recepuoir  ce  que  aura  desseruy. 

Le  corps  tousiours  cotre  la  raison  gronde, 
Et  Fame  induyt  a  toute  forfaicture, 
En  voluptez  non  en  vertus  se  fonde, 
Et  ne  quiert  fors  paresse  &  nourriture; 
II  ne  sert  dieu  fors  par  quelque  adueture, 
Penser  ne  veult  que  vne  fois  pourrira, 
Dont  i'ay  grand  paour  que  au  grad  iour  yra 
Ou  il  sera  en  ame  &  corps  rauy, 
C'est  deuant  Dieu  ou  il  obeyra, 
Pour  recepuoir  ce  que  aura  desseruy. 

Prince  congnoys  que  mourir  conuiendra, 
Et  que  ton  corps  charongne  deuiendra 
Homme  n^y  a  qui  n'y  soit  asseruir, 
Puis  deuant  Dieu  chascune  ame  viendra 
Pour  recepuoir  ce  que  aura  desseruy." 

Three  of  Chastellain*s  poems  have  to  do  with  death.    The 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  86 

conceptions  in  the  second  stanza  of  Ballade  II  are  familiar 
yet  striking : 

"  Lequel  veulx-tu,  ou  vie  ou  mort  choisir? 
Choisys  des  deux:  tu  as  discretion. 
Aymes-tu  mieulx  de  ton  corps  le  desir 
Pour  ton  ame  mettre  a  dampnation 
Que  vivre  un  peu  en  tribulation 
Et  qu'apres  mort  soyt  ton  ame  ravie 
En  gloire  es  cieulx,  qui  de  nul  desservie 
Estre  ne  peult  en  ceste  vie  humaine, 
S'il  ne  laisse  terre,  avoir  et  demaine 
Et  pere  et  mere  et  tout  s'il  est  possible, 
Et  vive  en  paine  et  en  labeur  terrible, 
En  suy^^ant  Dieu  tous  jours  patiemment? 
C'est  le  chemin  qui  conduit  seurement  . 

Apres  trespas  I'ame  a  salvation; 

Et  qui  va  aultre,  il  va  a  dampnement,  ; 

Homme  deffait,  mis  a  perdition."^^ 

The  envoy  of  Ballade  III  indulges  in  more  conventional 
imagery : 

"  Homme,  arme-toy  contre  Theure  future 
Forte  et  dure,  car  mort  de  la  pointure 
Te  picquera  de  sa  mortelle  darde; 
Mais  SQais-tu  quant?    demain  par  aventure 
Ou  aujourd'huy.     Pour  tant  donne-toy  garde."^^ 

In  Ballade  VII,  Death  with  his  dart  figures,  too,  and  the 
treatment  is  more  pictorial : 

"Pense  un  chacun  qu'il  portera  son  fais 
Et  que  apres  mort  sera  ressuscite 
Pour  rendre  a  Dieu  compte  de  ses  meffais 

55  Kervyn  de  Lettenhove,  (Euvres  de  Georges  Chastellain  (Brussels, 
1866),  Vol.  VIII,  p.  300. 

56  Kervyn  de  Lettenhove,  Opus  Cit.,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  303. 


86  THE   BALLADE 

En  jugement  ou  il  sera  cite : 

La  luy  sera  tout  son  temps  recite ; 

La  Dieu  dira  aux  benoits  Venite 

Et  aux  mauldits  Ite.     Ceste  voir  ditte, 

Chancun  aura  droit  selon  son  merite, 

Les  saulves  gloire  et  leesse  infinite, 

Et  les  dampnes  tristesse  a  tous jours  mais. 

Las!  pensons-y,  ear  c'est  chose  licite: 

Par  ce  moyen  nous  aurons  tousjours  pais. 

Prince  mortel,  nostre  vie  est  petite 
Et  nous  suyt  mort  atout  son  dard  subite; 
Pour  tant  faisons  des  biens  plus  qu^onques  mais, 
Tant  qu'apres  mort  nostre  ame  es  cieux  habite : 
Par  ce  moyen  nous  aurons  tousjours  pais."^^ 

In  Pierre  de  la  Vacherie^s  ballade  on  death,  a  pagan  asso- 
ciation is  introduced: 

"Riens  il  n*y  plus  certain  que  la  mort 
Ne  moins  certain  quant  est  I'heure  d'icelle; 
Par  quoy  chascun  doit  avoir  le  remort, 
Duyre  son  ame,  de  peur  qu'el  ne  chancelle 
Et  que  ne  soit  de  Proserpine  ancelle, 
Qui  tant  de  peine  luy  feroit  encourir; 
De  penitence  entrez  en  la  nasselle, 
Considerant  qu'une  fois  fault  mourir."'*^ 

A  curious  dialogue  in  which  Death  and  Man  parley  was 
written  possibly  by  Meschinot : 

57  Kervyn  to  Lettenhove,  Opus  Cit.  p.  308,  third  stanza  and  envoy. 

58  Pierre  de  la  Vacherie,  Gouvernement  des  Trois  Estatz,  A.  de 
Montaiglon  et  James  de  Rothschild,  Recueil  de  Poesies  Francoises 
(Paris,  1877),  Vol.  XII,  p.  97.  Stanza  3  is  given.  The  poem  was 
composed  1505-1512. 


THE  BALLADE   IN  FRANCE 


87 


La  mort  parte  a  Ihomme  humain. 


"Ben  toy. 
Tu  le  seauras. 
Greue  uature. 
Tu  en  mourras. 
Temprement. 

En  pourriture. 

Va  confesser 

car  ie  ne  scay  meilleur  trouuer. 


A  qui 

et  quay  ie  fait? 

Quen  sera  11? 

Quant? 

Cest  chose  dure. 

Las  ou  iray  ie? 

Conseil  me  fault 


Se  jay  pechie? 

et  sen  ay  peine? 

Son  ma  meffait? 

Dieu  &  coment? 

et  qui  dit  ce? 


Tu  le  diras 

Si  lendure 

Tu  pardonras. 

Dentente  pure. 

Saincte  escripture. 

Cest  mon  conseil,  pour  ce  prouer 

Car  ie  ne  scay  meilleur  trouuer. 

Ie  me  rendz  done. 


Ce  feray  mon? 
Se  iay  laultruy? 
Se  iay  auoir? 

Quoy? 

Que  mangeray  ie? 

Quelle? 


La  foy  tiendras 

Tu  dis  droicture 

Tu  le  rendras 

Tu  en  feras. 

Aux  puoures 

Leur  nourriture. 

La  pasture. 

Que  prebstre  scet  sacrer 

Car  ie  ne  scay  meilleur  trouuer. 

Prince 
Que  veulx  tu?  Ie  vous  iure. 

Quoy?  Que  je  croy. 

La  vierge  pure. 
Que  dieu  crea  pour  nous  sauluer 
Car  ie  ne  scay  meilleur  trouuer."''® 
59  Les  Lunettes  des  Princes  auec  Aulcunes  Balades  4"  Additions 
Nouuellement  Composee  par  Nohle  Homme  lehan  Meschinot  Escuyer 
en  son  Vivant  Grant  Maistre  dHotel  de  la  Eoyne  de  France  (Paris, 
1539),  Sig.  Qvii^-Qviii^ 


88  the  ballade 

The  '*Ubi  sunt''  Ballade®^ 

Probably  the  most  famous  ballade  ever  written  is  Villon's 
"des  dames  du  temps  jadis. "  It  is  another  example  of  how 
traditional  literary  forms  and  old  ideas  are  transformed 
into  new  and  glorious  poetry  by  a  great  poet.^^  The  **ubi 
sunt''  formula,  first  used  in  sermons  and  didactic  poems, 
was  soon  transferred  to  hymns  and  songs,  and  thence  spread 
from  Latin  versions  to  the  vernacular.^-  St.  Bernard 
inquired : 

"Die  ubi  Salomon,  olim  tarn  nobilis? 
Vel  ubi  Samson  est,  dux  invineibilis? 
Vel  pulcher  Absalon,  vultu  mirabilis? 
Vel  dulcis  Jonathas,  multum  amabilis  ? '' 

And  he  continued  his  questioning  for  the  pagans,  too : 
"  Quo  Caesar  abiit,  celsus  imperio  ? 
Vel  Dives  splendidus,  totus  in  prandio? 
Die,  ubi  Tullius,  clarus  eloquio? 
Vel  Aristoteles,  suramus  ingenio  ?  "^^ 

«o  Professor  K.  C.  M.  Sills  of  Bowdoin  College  gave  me  a  number 
of  references  to  "ubi  sunt''  literature. 

61  Gaston  Paris,  Frangois  Villon  (Paris,  1910),  p.  107:  "Mais 
I'^scolier  parisien  a  su  faire  de  ce  lieu  commun  une  des  perles  les 
plus  rares  de  la  poesie  de  tous  les  temps,  d  'abord  en  n  'evoquant  dans 
son  reve  que  des  figures  des  femmes,  puis  en  les  choisissant  avec  un 
art  ou  plutot  un  instinct  merveilleux. " 

62-03  Sainte-Beuve,  Causeries  du  Lundi  (Vol.  XIV),  26  Sept.  1859, 
pp.  297-298.  Cf.  C.  Horstmann,  Richard  Bolle  of  Eampole,  Library 
of  Early  English  Writers  (1895),  Vol.  II,  374;  C.  E.  Northrop, 
Ubi  Sunt  Heroes,  Modern  Language  Notes  XXVIII,  No.  4,  p.  106; 
C.  E.  Northrop,  Lilce  a  Midsomer  Hose,  Modern  Language  Notes, 
XXIV,  No.  8,  p.  257;  Frederick  Tupper,  The  Ubi  Sunt  Formula, 
Modern  Language  Notes,  VIII,  No.  8,  p.  506;  T.  B.  Bright,  The  Ubi 
Sunt  Formula,  Modern  Language  Notes,  VIII,  No.    3,  p.  187. 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  89  \ 

■{ 
1 

At  least  three  of  Deschamps's  poems,  a  chant  royal'^*  j 

and  two  ballades,  are  on  the  **ubi  sunt"  theme.     Their  i 

quality  is  suggested  by  the  stanzas  quoted :  * 

Baiade  \ 

Comment  Ce  Monde  N'est  Riens  Quant  a  la  Vie 

St.  1.  1 

"  Ou  est  Nembroth  le  grant  jay  ant,  I 

Qui  premiers  obtint  seigneurie  ] 

Sur  Babiloine?     Ou  est  Priant,  \ 

Hector,  et  toute  sa  lignie?  j 

Achilles  et  sa  compaingnie, 

Troye,  Carthaige  et  Romulus,  \ 

Athene,  Alixandre,  Remus,  { 

Jullius  Cesar  et  li  sien? 
Ilz  sont  tous  cendre  devenus : 
Souflez,  nostre  vie  n^est  rien."®** 

But  that  "ubi  sunt"  ballade  of  his  which  takes  for  its  j 

theme  the  passing  of  ''adorable  jeunesse"  has  its  share  of  ' 

poetic  poignancy.  \ 

\ 
"  Qu'est  devenu  printemps,  Avril  et  May? 
Ou  est  ale  le  doulx  temps  que  j'avoie  ' 

«*Le  Marquis  de  Queux  de  SaintiHilaire,  (Euvres  Completes  de  j 

Mustache  Deschamps  (Paris,  1882),  Vol.  Ill,  p.  183:  . 

"Force  de  corps,  qu'est  devenu  Sanson?  ! 

Ou  est  Auglas,  le  bon  practicien?  1 

Ou  est  le  corps  du  sage  Salemon  ( 

Ne  d'Ypocras,  le  bon  phisicien?  ' 

Ou  est  Platon,  le  grant  naturien  ' 

Ne  Orpheus  o  sa  doulce  musique?  i 

Tholomeus  o  son  arismetique  ?  ^ 
Ne  Dedalus  qui  first  le  bel  ouvragef 

Us  sont  tous  mors,  si  fu  leur  mort  inique;  .   i 

Tuit  y  mourront,  et  li  fol  et  li  saige. "  i 

«5G.  Eaynaud,  Opus  Cit.,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  149.  .| 


90  THE  BALLADE 

A  .xiiii.  ans,  le  corps  plaisant  et  gay, 
Les  cheveux  blons,  ou  temps  que  je  cuidoie 
Que  Pen  m'amoit  pas  amours  que  j'avoie, 
Que  je  regnay,  que  je  fus  honnoree, 
Jeune,  gente,  fresche  et  fort  desiree? 
Vint  et  cinq  ans  dura  ma  jeune  flours, 
Mais  a  trente  ans  fu  ma  colour  muee. 
Lasse!  languir  vois  ou  desert  d'amours: 

VEnvoy 

Jeunes  belles,  cuidez  car  je  cuiday; 

Mais  avisez  a  la  doulour  que  j'ay. 

Prenez  vo  temps,  car  trop  vault  un  bon  jours. 

Vingt  et  cinq  ans  ont  tenu  mon  cuer  gay, 

Trente  et  le  plus  m^ont  fait  perdre  toute  glay 

Lasse!  languir  vois  ou  desert  d' amours."^® 

Sainte-Beuve  makes  the  point  that  Villon 's  real  contribu- 
tion to  great  poetry  lies  not  so  much  in  the  conventional 
questioning  as  in  the  poignant  refrain,  "Mais  ou  sont  les 
neiges  d'antan?"  Professor  Gummere,  on  the  other  hand, 
has  shown  that  these  magic  words  are  only  a  variant  of  a 
communal  refrain.®^  The  American  scholar  refers  to  a 
beautiful  Middle  English  predecessor  of  the  great  ballade, 
the  Luve  Bon,  in  which,  in  response  to  a  "  maid  of  Christ '  * 
who  asks  for  a  love  song,  Thomas  de  Hales  cites,  as  so  many 
exempla,  the  miserable  fates  of  those  who  gave  themselves 
to  love  and  recommends  Christ  as  the  only  worthy  lover. 
Quite  comparable  to  Villon's  ballade  is  this  stanza : 

"  Hwer  is  paris  and  heleyne, 
}pat  weren  so  bryght  and  feyre  on  bleo? 

06  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire,  (Euvres  Computes  de  Eus- 
tache  Deschamps  (Paris,  1882),  Vol.  Ill,  p.  373. 

67  F.  B.  Gummere,  The  Beginnings  of  Poetry  (New  York,  1901),  p. 
149. 


THE   BALLADE  IN   FRANCE                                   91  ^ 

I 

Amadas.  tristram  and  dideyne,®®  | 

yseude  and  alle  j7eo?  i 

Ector  wi}7  his  scharpe  meyne,  ' 

and  cesar  riche  of  wordes  feo?  i 

Heo  bej?  iglyden  vt  of  J?e  reyne.  j 

so  \>e  schef  (t)  is  of  J?e  cleo."«»  \ 

J 

These  lines  lack  plainly  the  concentrated  lyric  sweetness  of  i 

Villon's  poem,  the  most  perfect  of  all  ballades :'^^  | 

"  Dictes  moy  ou,  n'en  quel  pays, 

Est  Flora  la  belle  Rommaine,  i 
Archipiades^^  ne  Thais, 
Qui  fut  sa  cousine  germaine; 
Echo  parlant  quant  bruyt  on  maine 
Dessus  riviere  ou  sus  estan, 

Qui  beault€  ot  trop  plus  qu'humaine.  « 

Mais  ou  sont  les  neiges  d'antan  ?  "  1 


Ou  est  la  tres  sage  Hellois, 
Pour  qui  fut  chastre  et  puis  moyne 
Pierre  Esbaillart  a  Saint  Denis? 
Pour  son  amour  ot  ceste  essoyne. 
Semblablement,  ou  est  la  royne 
Qui  commanda  que  Buridan 
Fust  gete  en  ung  sac  en  Saine? 
Mais  ou  sont  les  neiges  d'antan  ? 

La  royne  Blanche  comme  lis 
Qui  chantoit  a  voix  de  seraine, 

«8  Scribal  error  for  ideyne. 

69  Richard  Morris,  An  Old  English  Miscellany  (London,  1872), 
Early  English  Text  Society,  No.  49,  p.  95.  For  further  references  to 
the  treatment  of  the  '*ubi  sunt"  motive,  see  O.  L.  Triggs,  The  As- 
sembly of  Gods  by  John  Lydgate,  Early  English  Text  Society,  Extra 
Series  69,  London,  1896,  pp.  73-74. 

70  Cf.  P.  Champion,  Frangois  Villon  Sa  Vie  et  Son  Temps  (Paris, 
1913),  Vol.  I,  p.  145;  Vol.  II,  pp.  186-188. 

TiAlcibiades — see  G.  Paris,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  107. 


92  THE  BALLADE  ] 

Berte  au  grant  pie,  Bietris,  Alls, 
Haremburgis  qui  tint  le  Maine, 
Et  Jehanne^^  la  bonne  Lorraine 

72  Cf.  P.  Champion,  Ballade  du  Sacre  de  Beims,  a  chant  royal.  i 
Cf.   also  the  uninspired  "ballade  contre  les  Anglais,"   printed  in 

Bomania  for  1892,  p.  51,  by  Paul  Meyer,  who  dates  the  piece  1429.  ' 

For  other  historical  ballades  see  p.  128  below.  J 

'*Ariere,  Englois  couez,  ariere! 

Vostre  sort  si  ne  resgne  plus.  i 

Penses  deu  treyner  vous  baniere  \ 

Que  bons  Fransois  ont  rue  jus  j 

Par  le  voloyr  dou  roy  Jhesus,  ' 

Et  Janne,  la  douce  pucelle,  ! 

De  quoy  vous  estes  confondus,  i 
Dont  c  'est  pour  vous  dure  novelle. 

I 

De  tropt  orgouilleuse  maniere  | 

Longuemen  vous  estes  tenus;  i 

En  France  est  vous  [tre]  semet[i]ere, 
Dont  vous  estes  pour  foulx  tenus. 
Faucement  y  estes  venus, 

M6s,  par  bonne  juste  querelle,  i 

Tourner  vous  en  faut  tons  camus,  '. 

Dont  c'est  pour  vous  dure  novelle. 

Or  esmagines  quelle  chiere 

Font  ceulx  qui  vous  ont  soustenus  j 

Depuis  vostre  emprisse  premiere.  j 

Je  croy  qu'i  sont  mort  ou  perdus, 

Car  je  ne  voys  nulle  ne  nus 

Qui  de  present  de  vous  se  mesle. 

Si  non  chetis  et  maletrus, 

Dont  c'est  pour  vous  dure  novelle. 

Pour  vous  gages,  il  est  conclus, 

Ai^s  la  goute  et  la  gravelle 

Et  le  coul  taill6  rasibus, 

Dont  c'est  pour  vous  dure  nouvelle." 


THE  BALLADE   IN  FRANCE  93 

Qu'Englois  brulerent  a  Rouan; 
Ou  sont  ilz,  ou,  Vierge  souvraine? 
Mais  ou  sont  les  neiges  d'antan? 

Prince,  n'enquerez  de  sepmaine 
Ou  elles  sont,  ne  de  cest  an, 
Que  ce  refrain  ne  vous  remaine : 
Mais  ou  sont  les  neiges  d'antan?"^^ 

Villon  wrote  two  other  ballades  of  this  type,  the  **balade 
des  seigneurs  du  temps  iadis"^*  and  a  ''balade  (a  ce  propos 
en  viel  langage  f rancois) , '  ^^^  neither  of  which  is  a  master- 
piece. A  direct  result  also  of  these  poems  of  Villon's  is 
Gringore's  pious  questioning  of  death  with  its  formal  in- 
sistence on  chastity  and  virtue  as  the  prerequisites  of  im- 
mortality. 

"  Ou  est  Priam,  ou  est  Agamemnon, 
Et  Alexandre  qui  cut  si  grant  renom? 
Ou  la  proesse  des  tres  nobles  Romains? 
Qu'est  de  venue  la  puissance  Sanxon, 
Et  la  richesse  du  Riche  Pharaon, 
Qui  en  leur  temps  subjuguoient  les  humains? 

Jean's  exploits,  as  the  ballade  quoted  shows,  were  not  always  pro- 
ductive of  great  lines.  The  ''  ballade  centre  les  anglais  '*  obviously 
belongs  in  the  category  of  historical  ballades. 

73  Francois  Villon,  (Euvr es,  editees  par  un  Ancien  Archiviste  (Paris, 
1911),  p.  22.  J.  W.  Mackail,  (Springs  of  Helicon  London,  1909,  p. 
34),  speaking  of  Pandarus's  line,  ''Yea,  farewell  all  the  snow  of  feme 
year,"  says:  "The  words  on  the  lips  of  a  later  poet  became  the 
burden  of  the  world-famous  Ballad  of  Dead  Ladies,  but  they  were 
Chaucer 's  first. ' '  Cf .  also  H.  Guy,  Histoire  de  la  PoSsie  Frangaise  du 
Xrie  Siecle  (Paris,  1910),  p.  146:  Octavien  Saint-Gelays,  one  of 
Villon's  poetic  followers,  had  the  temerity  to  essay  twice  a  re-writing 
of  the  flawless  Ballade  des  dames  du  temps  jadis. 

74  A.  Longnon,  CEuvres  Completes  de  Frangois  Villon  (Paris,  1892), 
p.  34. 

75  A.  Longnon,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  36. 


94  THE  BALLADE 

II  sont  sechez  ainsi  qu^au  prez  les  foings. 
Mort  en  la  fin  les  a  occis,  deffais, 
Et  qu'il  soit  vray,  plusieurs  en  sont  tesmoings; 
Au  mortel  monde  demeurent  les  bienfais."^^ 

Proverbs  and  the  Ballade 
Ballades,  adaptable  to  the  sober  purposes  of  religion  and 
death,  lent  themselves  easily  to  gnomic  uses.  Moreover,  the 
proverb  as  a  line  unit  frequently  offered  a  quick  solution  of 
what  might  otherwise  have  been  a  difficult  rime-problem. 
Proverbs  were  used  singly  or  they  were  grouped  to  form  a 
stanza.  But  the  stringing  together  of  any  considerable 
number  of  proverbs  was  likely  to  produce  patter  rather 
than  poetry.  That  proverbs  should  have  been  introduced 
into  ballades  was  to  be  expected.  In  the  early  years  of  the 
existence  of  the  ballade,  there  was,  indeed,  the  medieval 
affection  for  sententious  wisdom  to  account  for  the  fre- 
quent appearance  of  the  proverb,  and  in  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries,  there  was  the  obsession  in  favor  of 
rhetorical  ornament  to  explain  the  presence  of  the  proverb 
in  so  many  places.*^^ 

76  Charles  Oulmont,  Pierre  Gringore  (Paris,  1911),  p.  142. 

77  * '  La  f a^on  dont  les  rhetoriqueurs  concevait  la  morale  les  con- 
duisait  necessairement  k  I'exprimer  en  proverbes.  Non  seulement  ils 
ne  fuyaient  pas  ces  sentences  banales  et  contradictoires  que  le  dogma- 
tisme  populaire  a  edictees,  mais  il  les  recherchaient  avec  z^le  en  sorte 
que  leurs  livres  en  sont  plus  farcis  que  les  discours  de  Sancho  Pan^a. 
Des  pieces  enti^res  (j  'en  pourrais  citer  plus  de  cent)  nous  oifrent  un 
proverbe  k  la  fin  de  chaque  strophe.  Presque  tons  les  auteurs  de  ee 
temps  se  sont  asservis  k  cette  mode,  et  le  seul  effort  que  certains — 
Molinet,  par  exemple, — aient  fait  pour  se  monstrer  originaux,  ^'a  4t6 
de  commencer  quelquef ois  la  strophe  par  le  proverbe.  Adjoutez  qu  'ils 
ne  recherchent  point  les  adages  les  plus  significatifs  ou  les  moins 
prosaiques,  mais  ceux  qui  ont  le  nombre  de  syllabes  qu'il  faut  (dix  ou 
huit,  dix  k  1 'ordinaire) ;  il  s'ensuit  que  les  memes  maximes  revien- 
nent  ra^caniquement,  et  servent  flexibles  et  vaines,  k  prouver  le  pour  et 
le  centre."     (H.  Guy,  L'icole  de  Rhetoriqueurs,  Paris,  1910,  p.  68.) 


THE  BALiiADE  IN  FRANCE  95 

In  Deschamps's  ballades,  the  proverb  occurs  sometimes  in 
the  body  of  the  stanza,  as  in  * '  autre  balade  de  la  complainte 
de  grammaire,"  stanza  1,  line  7: 

"  Si  vielle  suy  et  de  si  long  temps  nee 
Que  mil  ne  veult  plus  ma  doctrine  entendre, 
Et  si  fu  je  la  premiere  ordonnee, 
Qui  les  .vii.  ars  fis  a  pluseurs  aprendre, 
Et  les  plus  grans  fis  mainte  foiz  du  mendre, 
A  rude  engin,  par  fort  continuer; 
Goute  d'yaue  fait  la  pierre  caver, 
Si  fiat  aussi  continuacion 
De  poursuir,  retenir,  demander: 
Mais  des  .vi.  ars  voy  la  destruction."'® 

Or  the  proverb — ^and  this  fashion  is  more  frequent — serves 
as  the  refrain.  The  first  stanza  of  a  "balade  morale  d'un 
paisant  et  son  chien, ' '  shows  this  disposition  of  the  material : 

"  Un  paisant  avoit  un  chien 
De  grant  exploit,  jeune  et  puissant, 
Fort  et  hardi,  si  I'ama  bien, 
Car  toute  beste  fut  prenant, 
Et  si  gardoit  diligemment 
Son  hostel  de  jour  et  de  nuit; 
Manger  lui  fist  de  maint  deduit, 
Et  des  loups  son  tropiau  garda. 
Or  devint  vieulx:  lors  le  destruit: 
Quant  fruit  faut,  desserte  s^en  va."'^ 

This  hallade,  like  many  others  of  Deschamps's,  is  a  fable, 
and  of  fables  there  is  a  word  to  be  said  later. 

Proverbs  are  common  in  the  ballades  of  Deschamps  and 
also  in  those  by  his  contemporaries,  Christine  de  Pisan  and 

78  Le  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint- Hilaire,  (Euvres  Completes  de 
Eustache  DescMmps    (Paris,  1887),  Vol.  V,  p.   152. 

79  Le  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire,  Opus  Cit.,  Vol.  VI,  p.  270. 


96  THE  BALLADE 

Froissart.®**  The  former,  for  instance,  used  a  proverb  as 
refrain  in  one  of  the  Cent  Ballades,  the  first  stanza  of 
which  is : 

"  Sage  seroit  qui  se  saroit  garder 
Des  f  aulx  amans  qui  ades  ont  usage 
De  dire  assez  pour  les  femmes  frauder; 
Trop  se  plaignent  de  I'amoureuse  rage 
Qui  plus  les  tient  que  I'oisellet  la  cage, 
Et  vont  faignant  qu'ilz  en  ont  eouleur  fade; 
Mais  quant  a  moy  tiens  de  certain  corage, 
Qui  plus  se  plaint  n'est  pas  le  plus  malade."^^ 

Similarly,  Froissart's  method  of  availing  himself  of  the 
ready  made  wisdom  of  proverbs  is  shown  in  the  third  and 
fourth  lines  of  a  ballade  in  Meliador: 

"Aucun  dient  clamant  ont  trop  grant  painne 
Pour  bien  amer  et  loyaute  tenir; 
Pour  ce,  s'il  ont  .i.  bien  une  sepmainne, 
Encontre  ce  leur  fault  .c.  maus  souffrir. 
Mais  a  ce  point  ne  me  voel  acorder, 
Car  Amours  poet  tout  ce  bien  amender. 
Par  .i.  seul  eur  c'on  en  poet  recevoir, 
Couvient,  il  dont  tout  Fanoi  oublier 
C'on  ot  onques  ou  puist  jamais  avoir."^^ 

The  ballade  consisting  of  nothing  but  proverbs  became 
popular  after  Villon.     His   **  ballades   desi  Proverbes*'^* 

80  See  E.  Fehse,  Sprichtwort  und  Sentenz  hex  Eustache  Deschamps 
und  Dichtern  Seiner  Zeit  (Berlin,  1905). 

81  M.  Eoj,  CEuvrcs  Foetiques  de  Christine  de  Pisan  (Paris,  1886), 
Vol.  I,  p.  54. 

82  A.  Longnon,  Meliador  par  Jean  Froissart  (Paris,  1895),  Vol.  IT, 
p.  214. 

83  Le  Roux  de  Lincy,  Le  Livre  des  Froverbes  Frangais  (Paris, 
1859),  Vol.  I,  p.  LVIII:  "Villon  connaissait  bien  les  proverbes,  non 
pas  ces  sentences  pedantesques,  ees  mots  dor6s,  comme  on  disait  alors, 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  97 

tempted  other  poets.  The  following  stanza  quoted  from  one 
of  his  proverbial  ballades,  in  spite  of  its  mannerisms  and 
artifice,  is  extremely  ingenious: 

"  Tant  grate  chievre  que  mal  gist, 
Tant  va  le  pot  a  I'eau  qu'il  brise, 
Tant  chauffe  on  le  fer  qu'il  rougist, 
Tant  le  maille  on  qu'il  se  debrise, 
Tant  vault  I'homme  comme  on  le  prise, 
Tant  s'eslongne  il  qu'il  n'en  souvient, 
Tant  mauvais  est  qu'on  le  desprise, 
Tant  erie  I'on  Noel  qu'il  vient."^* 

Almost  identical  in  form  and  phrase  is  the  halade  [des 
Proverbes]  of  Le  Pnsonnier  Desconforte,  dating  near  the 
end  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Take  for  example  the  first 
stanza : 


'  Tant  ayme  I'on  que  mal  en  vient, 
Tant  pri-on  que  chose  est  acquise, 


dont  Pierre  Gringoire  et  les  ennuyeux  rimeurs  de  son  ecole  se  plaisai- 
ent  a  orner  leur  ecrits,  mais  les  proverbes  communs  repetes  a  chaque 
moment  par  le  peuple,  et  dont  encore  aujourd'hui  il  aime  a  faire 
usage."  And  p.  LIX:  *'Presque  toutes  les  ballades  que  Villon  a 
jointes  k  son  Grand  et  a  son  Petit  Testament  se  terminent  ainsi,  et 
1  'on  voit,  d  'apres  les  exemples  cites  precedemment  que  cette  maniere  de 
composer  etait  fort  repandue  aux  XIV*  et  XV*  si^cles. "  This  hal- 
lade  is  printed  in  Le  Jardin  de  Plaisance,  Societe  des  Ancieiis  Textes 
Frangais  (Paris,  1910),  sig  vi. 

84  Francois  Villon,  CEuvres,  ed.  par  un  Ancien  Archiviste  (Paris, 
1911),  p.  79. 

The  first  line  of  Villon's  poem  and  the  refrain  are  recurrent  in 
French  literature.  The  proverb,  ' '  Tant  grate  chiSvre  que  mal  gist, ' ' 
occurs  twice  in  Le  Roux  de  Lincy's  Chants  Historiques,  in  a  halade  (of 
21  stanzas)  by  Alain  Chartier  (1449),  at  the  end  of  stanza  8;  and 
again  at  the  end  of  stanza  11  of  a  Chanson  contre  Hugues  Aubriot 
(1384).  At  the  end  of  stanza  12  of  the  latter  poem  is  another 
proverb  beginning  with  tant. 

8 


98  THE  BALLADE 

Tant  poursuit-on  qu'on  y  parvient, 
Tant  bat-on  place  qu'elle  est  prise, 
Tant  plus  couste  plus  on  la  prise 
Tant  perle-Pon  qu'on  se  mesdit, 
Tant  va  le  pot  a  Feau  qu'il  brise 
Tant  grate  chievre  que  mal  git."^'^ 

A  ballads  of  CoUerye,  too,  was  doubtless  indebted  to 
Villon's  experiments  with  the  proverb  in  ballade  form. 

"  Trop  or  et  argent  amasser 
Sans  en  bien  user  n'est  licite; 
Trop  son  ennemy  pourchasser 
N'est  pas  tout  eur,  comme  on  recite; 
Trop  longue  guerre  mort  suscite, 
Au  peuple  mauvais  peu  en  chault; 
Trop  malverser,  grant  mal  incite; 
Tant  plus  y  a  trop,  et  moins  vault. 

Trop  empoigner,  trop  embrasser 
Est  ung  trop  assez  illicite, 
Trop  avoir  et  trop  tracasser 
N'est  pas  bon,  S'il  n'y  a  poursuitte 
Prisee  n^est  une  lache  fruitte, 
Ne  trop  fin  homme,  ne  trop  cault, 
Ne  pareillement  trop  grant  suitte; 
Tant  plus  y  a  trop  et  moins  vault. 

Trop  noiser  et  trop  menasser 
Est  un  trop  dont  on  n^est  pas  quicte; 

85  Pierre  Champion,  Le  Prisonnier  Desconforte  du  Chateau  de 
Loches  (Paris,  1909),  p.  13. 

Two  other  contemporaries  of  Villon's  are  known  to  have  composed 
proverb  hallades.  See  P.  Champion,  Vie  de  Charles  d'Orlcans  (Paris, 
1911),  p.  598:  "La  ballade  des  Proverbes,  qu'^crivit  assez  tard  M* 
Pierre  Chevalier,  est  une  bonne  contribution  h  ce  mode  litt^raire" 
.  .  .  Bertaut  de  Villebresme  .  .  .  6crivit  sur  ce  snjet  une  ballade  dans 
laquelle  il  laissa  briller  toute  son  Erudition." 


THE   BALLADE   IN   FRANCE  99 

Trop  passer  et  trop  rapasser 
C^est  un  trop  de  sotte  conduite; 
Trop  voit-on  prudence  petite 
Regner  sur  plusieurs  bas  et  hault 
Trop  voit-on  mourir  gens  d'eslite; 
Tant  plus  y  a  trop  et  moins  vault. 

Prince,  ma  parolle  desduyte, 
Puis  que  par  trop  conclure  fault, 
Je  dis  en  substance  bien  duitte: 
Tant  plus  y  a  trop  et  moins  vault."^® 

Melin  de  Saint  Gelais  wrote  two  hallades,  in  one  of  which, 
a  gay  little  plea  for  the  right  of  a  lover  to  distract  himself 
with  many  beauties,  he  avails  himself  of  several  familiar 
and  popular  sayings : 

"  S'il  est  ainsi  qu'il  n'est  rien  si  parfaict 
Ou  il  n'y  ayt  de  I'imperfeetion, 
Et  s'il  est  vray  qu' Amour  n'ayt  en  effect 
Nul  autre  object  que  la  perfection; 
Confesser  faut  que  ceste  affection, 
Qui  ne  pent  voir  son  object  tout  en  une, 
Se  pent  espandre  et  choisir  en  ehacune 
Ce  qu'il  y  a  plus  digne  d'amitie, 
Ainsi  I'amour  dispersee  et  commune 
Demeure  entiere  et  n'a  point  de  moitie. 

Vertu  qui  tout  accomplit  et  parfait 
N'est  qu'un  seul  bien  qui  a  mainte  action; 
Beaute  aussi,  qui  tost  se  deffait. 
Est  simple  en  soy;  mais  sa  compaction, 

86  Charles  d'Herieault,  (Euvres  de  Roger  de  Collerye  (Paris,  1855), 
p.  171.     On  the  same  page,  in  a  foot-note,  the  editor  says:  ''Cette 
ballade  presente  une  tournure  analogue  k  celle  de  Villon: 
'Tant  grate  ch^vre  que  mal  gist,'  etc. 


100                                                THE   BALLADE  i 

I 

Qui  emplit  I'oeil  de  satisfaction,  ' 

Gist  en  plusieurs  qui  n'ont  semblance  aucune.  ] 

Les  vices  grands,  comme  envie  ou  rancune,  I 

Dependent  tons  d'une  seule  impitie,  I 

Ainsi  amour,  sous  maints  chois  ou  fortune,  J 

Demeure  entiere,  et  n'a  point  de  moitie.  j 


Qui  dura  done  variable,  un  qui  fait 
De  divers  Mens  prudente  election? 
L'abeille  prend,  pour  venir  a  son  faict, 
De  maintes  fleurs  douce  refection; 
Tout  Funivers,  et  la  complexion 
De  ce  grand  corps  qui  est  dessous  la  lune 
N'est  qu'un  changer  d'une  espece  a  quelqu'une 
D'autre  accident,  par  sage  inimitie; 
Et  si  nature,  a  tons  faicts  opportune 
Demeure  entiere  et  n'a  point  de  moitie. 

Envoy 

Soit  done  fortune  a  moy  luisante  ou  brune. 
Me  tienne  au  fond  ou  me  mette  a  la  hune, 
Nul  n'en  doit  prendre  envie  ne  pitie; 
Car  mon  amour,  requise  ou  importune, 
Demeure  entiere  et  n'a  point  de  moitie."^'' 

Thoroughly  sententious,  too,  in  purpose  and  in  expression 
is  the  ''balade  bien  substancieuse":^'* 

"  II  nest  dangier  que  de  villain, 
Ne  orgueil  que  de  poure  enrichy, 

87  J.  B.  Blanchemain,  CEuvres  CompUtes  de  Melin  de  Saint-Gelais 
(Paris,  1873),  Vol.  TT.  p.  4. 

88  British  Museum  Ms.  Barley  4S97,  fol.  82'  (written  on  paper  in 
fifteenth  century  hand).  The  poem  is  found  also  with  some  differ- 
ences in  Jardin  de  Plaisance,  SociSte  des  Anciens  Textes  Franqais, 
Sig.  tii. 


THE   BALLADE   IN   FRANCE  101 

Ne  si  sceur  chemin  que  le  plain, 
Ne  secours  que  de  vray  amy, 
Ne  desespoir  que  jalousie, 
Ne  hault  vouloir  que  damoureux, 
Ne  paistre  quen  grant  seignourie, 
Ne  chiere  que  dhomme  joyeulx. 

Ne  seruir  que  roy  souuerain, 
Ne  en  amour  tel  bien  que  mercy, 
Ne  mengier  que  quant  on  a  f  aim, 
Ne  nul  tel  chastoy  que  de  luy, 
Ne  pourete  que  malladie, 
Ne  angoisse  que  ceur  conuoiteux, 
Ne  puissance  ou  il  ny  ait  enuiye, 
Ne  chiere  que  dhome  joyeulx. 

Et®*  nest  richesse  que  destre  sain, 
Ne  lait  nom  que  dhome  a  honty, 
Ne  que  de  la  mort  plus  certain, 
Ne  emprinse  que  dhome  hardy, 
Ne  tel  tresor  que  preud5mie, 
Ne  suyr^^  que  les  bons  et  preux, 
Ne  la  maison  que  bien  garnie, 
Ne  chiere  que  dhdme  joyeulx. 

Prince,  que  volez  que  je  dye, 
II  nest  parler  que  gracieux, 
Ne  loer  ges  quaprez  leur  vie, 
Ne  chiere  "  [rest  of  refrain  indicated  by 
abbreviation.] 

The  poetic  tendency  to  moralize,  which  often  led  a  writer 
of  ballades  to  lean  on  proverbs,  also  caused  him  to  turn  to 
fable  literature  and  to  the  fabrication  of  elaborate  animal 
allegory.     Deschamps  wrote  a  number  of  such  fable  hal- 

89  Probably  should  be  omitted;  elisions,  e.  g.,  n' emprinse,  should  be 
made. 

90  Probably  should  be  suyvre  or  suivre. 


102  THE    BALLADE 

lades.  He  chose  subjects  like  Le  Paysan  et  le  Serpent, ^'^ 
Le  Chat  et  les  Souris^^  and  Le  Reynard  et  le  Corheau.^^ 
The  ballade  of  Le  Lion  et  les  Fourmis^^  is  political  allegory 
in  fable  guise.  The  ants  in  this  case  are  the  thrifty 
Flemings. 

Mellin  de  Saint- Gelays  used  the  iahle-hallade  in  behalf 
of  Clement  Marot  and  against  Francois  Sagon,  who  had 
attacked  Marot,  by  describing  a  kite  in  mid  air  who  swoops 
down  and  fastens  his  talons  on  a  sleeping  cat.  The  inoffen- 
sive cat  is  Marot ;  the  bird  of  prey  is  Sagon : 

"  Mais,  se  voyant  ainsi  injustement  attaque, 
Le  chat  combat  et  au  milan  s'attache 
Si  vivement  et  restraint  si  tresfort 
Que  le  milan,  faisant  tout  son  effort 
De  s'envoler,  se  tint  prins  a  la  prise, 
Lors  me  souvint  d'un  qui  a  fait  le  fort, 
Qui  par  son  mal  a  sa  faiblesse  apprise."®^ 

Ballades  of  Courtly  Love^*' 

One  of  the  favorite  diversions  of  aristocratic  society  in 
the  fifteenth  century  was  the  cultivation  of  courtly  love. 

91  Le  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire,  CEuvres  Completes  de 
Eustache  Deschamps  (Paris,  1878),  Vol.  I,  p.  120. 

02  Idem,  Vol.  I,  p.  151. 

03  Idem,  Vol.  II,  p.  61. 

04  Idem,  Vol.  I,  p.  287. 

95  H.  J.  Molinier,  Mellin  de  Saint-Gelays  (Rodez,  1910),, p.  382. 

96  Cf.  A.  Piaget,  Un  Manuscrit  de  la  Cour  Amoureuse  de  Charles 
VI,  Romania  XXXI,  and  A.  Piaget,  La  Cour  Amoureuse,  dite  de 
Charles  VI,  Romania  XX.  Cf.  also  W.  G.  Dodd,  Courtly  Love  in 
Chaucer  and  Gower  (Boston  and  London,  1913).  This  book  con- 
tains a  detailed  treatment  of  the  subject  and  presents  evidence  of 
the  almost  universal  presence  of  the  doctrines  of  '* Courtly  love"  in 
the  English  authors  named,  and  in  French  writers  after  the  Trou- 
badours. 


THE   BALLADE   IN   FRANCE  103 

The  well-born  were  lovers  as  inevitably  as  they  were 
fighters.  The  conventions  of  a  lover's  conduct  were  rigidly 
prescribed  and  all  well-regulated  ardor  was  supposed  to  find 
some  relief  in  decorous  poetic  devotion.  The  Courts  of 
Love,  which  were  frequently  held  on  St.  Valentine's  day, 
or  on  the  first  of  May,  furnished  the  occasion  for  love  bal- 
lades with  their  set  phrases  and  shallow  compliments.  The 
ballades  of  Machaut,  Deschamps,^^  Froissart,  and  Charles 
d 'Orleans,  are  for  the  most  part  expressions  of  these  fami- 
liar formulas  of  courtly  love.  So  are  the  ballade  sequences 
presently  to  be  discussed;  so,  for  that  matter,  are  the 
greater  number  of  ballades  composed  in  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries.  The  whole  subject  of  the  motives  and 
modes  of  courtly  love  is  involved  in  a  study  of  ballade 
literature. 

The  allegory  of  these  ballades  became  current  with  the 
Roman  de  la  Rose,  where  abstractions  like  Dangier,  Esper- 
ance,  Nonchaloir,  w^ere  popularized,  and  where  the  example 
of  great  lovers,  too,  first  became  a  familiar  literary 
resource. 

Thus  Charles  d 'Orleans  accuses  Dangier: 

"  C'est  par  Dangier,  mon  cruel  adversaire, 
Qui  m*a  tenu  en  ses  mains  longuement, 
En  tous  mes  faiz  je  le  trouve  contraire; 
Et  plus  se  rit  quant  plus  me  voit  dolent. 
Se  vouloye  raeonter  plainement 
En  cest  escript  mon  ennuieux  martire, 
Trop  long  seroit:  pour  ce  certainement 
J'aymasse  mieulx  de  bouche  le  vous  dire."**^ 

97  A.  Piaget,  Tin  Manuscrit  de  la  Cour  Amour euse  de  Charles  VI, 
Romania,  XXXI,  p.  602:  The  name  of  Eustache  Deschamps  appears 
among  the  auditeurs,  one  of  the  eight  classes  of  members. 

OS  A.  Champollion-Figeac,  Les  Poesies  du  Due  Charles  d^Orleans 
(Paris,  1842),  p.  69. 


104  ,  THE  BALLADB 

Again,  the  same  poet  basks  in  a  St.  Valentine's  day  sun  ; 

while  in  the  clutches  of  Ennuieuse-pensee : 

"  Le  beau  souleil,  le  jour  Saint- Valentin,  I 

Qui  apportoit  sa  chandelle  alumee,  ^ 

N'a  par  longtemps,  entra  un  bien  matin  i 
Priveement  en  ma  chambre  fermee. 
Celle  clarte  qu'il  avoit  apportee 

Si  m'esveilla  du  somme  de  Soussy  ,j 

Ou  j^avoye  toute  la  nuit  dormy,  i 

Sur  le  dur  lit  d'Ennuieuse-pensee."^^*'  j 

Charles  d 'Orleans  has  a  very  beautiful  love  poem  in  La  ! 

CJiasse  et  le  Depart  d* Amours, ^^^  in  which  the  formal  ele-  i 

ment  is  less  disturbing :  ] 

I 
"  Se  dieu  plaist,  brief  uement  lannee 

De  ma  tristesse  passera, 

Belle  tres  loyaulment  amee, 

Et  le  beau  temps  se  monstrera. 

Mais  scauez  vous  quant  ce  sera? 

Quant  le  doulx  soleil  gracieulx 

De  voltre  beaulte  entrera 

par  la  fenestre  de  mes  yeulx. 

Lors  la  chambre  de  ma  pensee 
De  grant  plaisance  reluyra, 
Et  sera  de  joye  paree, 
Adonc  mon  cueur  sesueillera 

100  A.  ChampoUion-Figeac,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  126. 

101  P.  Champion,  Piices  Joyeuses  du  XVe  sQcle  (vol.  XXI  of 
Bevue  de  Philologie  Frangaise),  p.  162:  ^'La  Chasse  et  le  Depart 
Vamoura  est  1  'une  des  plus  6tranges  supercheries  du  libraire  6diteuf 
Antoine  V6rard.  Ce  livre  fut  public  en  1509  sous  le  nom  d'Octovien 
de  Saint  Gelais  et  de  Blaise  d'Auriol.  ...  A.  Piaget  a  montre  que 
ce  volume  contenait  avec  quelques  rajeunissements,  la  plupart  des 
poesies  de  Charles  d  'Orleans  d^marquees,  qu  Ml  f allait  y  reconnaitre  la 
main  d*un  veritable  faussaire.*' 


THE   BALLADE  IN   FRANCE  105 

Qui  en  dueil  dormy  longtemps  a 
plus  ne  donnira  se  maist  dieux; 
Quant  ceste  clerte  le  verra 
par  les  fenestres  des  mes  yeulx. 

Helas !  quant  viendra  la  joumee 
Quainsi  aduenir  me  pourra? 
Ma  maistresse  tresdesiree, 
pensez  vous  que  brief  aduiendra? 
Car  moncueur  tousiours  languira 
En  ennuy  sans  point  auoir  mieulx, 
Juc  a  tant  que  soleil  verra 
Par  les  fenestres  de  mes  yeulx. 

De  reeonfort  mon  cueur  aura 
Autant  que  nul  dessoulz  les  cieulx; 
Belle,  quant  vous  regardera 
Par  les  fenestres  de  mes  yeulx."^®^ 

A  familiar  conceit  is  conventionally  expressed  in  the  first 
stanza  of  one  of  Machaut's  hallades: 

"  Tenus  me  sui  longuement  de  chanter, 
Mais  orendroit  ay  loyal  occoison 
D'estre  envoisies  et  de  joie  mener, 
Car  mes  cuers  est  gietes  hors  de  prison 

Oil  il  fut  nus  doucement. 
Mais  puis  qu'il  est  mis  hors  delivrement, 
Mener  m'estuet  bonne  vie  et  joieuse, 
Pris  de  rechief  en  prison  amoureuse."^®^ 

One  of  the  Englishmen  who  wrote  French  poetry,  John 
Gower,  shows  in  all  his  hallades  familiarity  with  courtly 
love.  Like  Charles  d 'Orleans,  who  repeatedly  made  St. 
Valentine's  day  his  point  of  departure,  Gower  includes  in 

102  Blaise  d'Auriol,  Depart  d* Amours  (Toulouse,  1508),  Sig.  Biii"". 

103  V.  Chichmaref,  Guillaume  de  Machaut,  Poesies  Lyriques  (Paris, 
1909),  Vol.  I,  p.  50. 


106  THE  BALLADE 

his  Cinkante  Balades  two  dedicated  to  rites  of  the  four- 
teenth of  February.^^*  Gower,  too,  is  fond  of  citing  famous 
precedents.  The  refrain  of  halade  XIII  tells  how  the  lover 's 
pangs  are  ^'Plus  qe  Paris  ne  soeffrist  pour  Heleine.  "^**^ 
The  lady  of  one  of  his  hcdades  (XLIII)  complains: 

"Plus  tricherous  qe  Jason  a  Medee, 
A  Deianire  ou  q'Ereules  estoit, 
Plus  q'Eneas,  q'avoit  Dido  lessee, 
Plus  qe  Theseiis,  q'Adriagne  amoit, 
Ou  Demephon,  quant  Phillis  oublioit, 
Je  trieus,  helas,  q'amer  jadis  soloie: 
Dont  chanterai  desore  en  mon  endroit, 
C'est  ma  dolour,  se  fuist  aingois  ma  joie."^^^ 

Letters  in  ballade  form  may  conveniently  be  considered 
in  connection  with  conventional  love  terms.  Gower 's 
Cinkante  Balades  also  contains  three  love  letters  in  the 
usual  epistolary  style  of  ballades.  In  one  case  the  poet 
concludes : 

"  0  noble  dame,  a  vous  ce  lettre  irra, 
Et  quant  dieu  plest,  je  vous  verrai  apres: 
Par  cest  escrit  il  vous  remembrera, 
Quant  dolour  vait,  lest  joies  vienont  pres."^<^^ 

His  other  letter  envoys  are  similar  in  character.^^® 

Deschamps  used  the  ballade  as  letter  several  times.  There 
is  a  "lettre  d 'Eustace,  en  regrac,iant  Madame  d'Orliens  par 
Balade, ' '  the  first  stanza  of  which  runs : 

10*  G.  C.  Macaulay,  Complete  Works  of  John  Gower  (Oxford,  1899), 
Vol.  I,  pp.  365-366,  balades  XXXIIII  and  XXXV. 
105  Idem,  Vol.  I,  p.  349. 
loe  Idem,  Vol.  I,  p.  371. 
107  Idem,  Vol.  I,  p.  339. 
ios  Idem,  Vol.  I,  p.  340;  p.  341. 


THE  BALLADE   IN   FRANCE  107 

"  Ma  trescliiere  et  redoubtee  dame, 
Je  vous  merci  tresamoureusement, 
Quant  pleu  vous  a  a  souvenir  de  Fame, 
D'Eustace,  moy  vostre  povre  servent, 
Qu'om  disoit  mort,  et  si  benignement 
En  avez  fait  chanter  de  vostre  grace, 
Qu'a  Dieu  suppli,  priere  ne  li  face 
Jamais  nul  jour  ne  bien  durant  ma  vie 
Que  vous  n'aiez  en  ce  vo  bien  et  place; 
De  voz  gens  bien  devez  estre  serv^ie."^^® 

And  another  letter,  addressed  to  the  ' '  damoiselles  de  ma 
diete  Dame  d'Orliens,''  closes  with  this  envoy: 

"  Dames  d'onneur,  damoiselles  aussi, 
Eustace,  d'umble  cuer  vous  mercie 
De  voz  biens  faiz;  vostres  sui  pour  ce  di, 
Car  je  voy  bien :  Qui  ayme,  a  tart  oblie."^^^ 

In  1471,  P.  de  Jasulhac,  a  French  student  at  Toulouse, 
won  a  *'dame  d 'argent"  for  the  composition  of  the  Letra 
d* Amours  here  given: 

"  Tres  dossa  Flor,  cortes,  plasen  acuelh, 
Nimpha  plasen,  del  munde  la  plus  bela; 
Mantienh  joyos,  baselic  frapan  d'uelh; 
Cors  triumphan,  ma  dossa  Domayzela, 

109  G.  Raynaud,  (Euvres  Completes  de  EustacJie  Deschamps  (Paris, 
1891),  Vol.  VTT,  p.  122. 

110  G.  Raynaud,  Op^is  Cit.,  p.  125. 

The  refrain  of  this  hdllade,  popularized  by  Chaucer  in  the  Parle- 
ment  of  Foules,  is  found  in  at  least  two  other  places,  as  the  first  lino 
of  a  stanza  in  a  lyric  of  the  Modena  MS.  (See  A.  Jeanroy,  Les  Chan- 
sons Frangaises  du  MS.  de  Modene,  Supplement  of  Bevue  des 
Langues  Bomanes,  1896,  p.  249),  and  also  as  the  refrain  of  Balade 
XXV  in  Gower's  Cinkante  Balades.  (See  G.  C.  Macaulay,  Complete 
Works  of  John  Gower  (Oxford,  1899),  Vol.  I,  p.  358.) 


108  THE  BALLADE 

Mon  cor  soffris  dolor  arden,  crusela, 
Per  vostr*  amor  e  languis  neyt  e  jom, 
En  loc  que  sia  trobar  no  pot  so  jom 
Tan  fort  vos  tern  e  de  bon'  amor  ama, 
E  se  mante  plus  que  nul  a  son  torn 
Humil,  Hal  e  secret  a  sa  Dama. 

Quant  ieu  regart  vostras  belas  fayssos, 
Lo  gentil  cors,  vostra  bona  doctrina, 
Lo  bel  parlar,  lo  regart  amoros 
E  1  bon  renom  qu'en  vos  sus  tot  domina, 
Adone,  mon  cor  de  vos  amor  no  fina, 
Ez  en  re  plus  trobar  no  pot  repaus, 
Tant  es  liat  en  vostre'  amor  e  claus, 
Don  en  totz  Iocs,  desir  arden  I'enflama, 
E  tot  jom  es,  ses  mudar  son  prepaus, 
Humil,  lial  e  secret  a  sa  Dama. 

Done,  rosier  gay,  supplic  vos  humilmen 
Ajatz  merce  de  ma  joie  simplessa. 
No  vulhatz  pas  mon  dolen  fenimen. 
Res  ieu  no  elam  qu'amor  e  gentillessa: 
leu  vos  crendray  coma  Dieu  o  Deesa, 
En  vos  serven  y  aman  de  bon  acort; 
Vostre  sera  mon  cors  e  vien  e  mort, 
Gardan  per  tot  vostre  bon  nom  e  fama, 
Retenetz  lo,  quar  el  es  ferm  e  fort 
Humil,  lial  e  secret  a  sa  Dama. 

Tomada 

Prince  tres  haut,  thesaur  de  tot  deport, 
Vuelhas  donar  a  mon  cor  bon  coffort, 
En  alleujan  sa  dolor  e  sa  flama; 
Son  voler  es  dresser  entro  la  mort 
Humil,  lial  e  secret  a  sa  Dama." 

[A.  F.  Gatien-Amoult,  Monumens  de  la  Litterature  Romane 
(Paris-Toulouse,  1841-1849),  Vol.  IV,  p.  239.] 


the  ballade  in  prance  109 

Ballade  Sequences 

Some  of  the  earliest  ballades  were  imbedded  in  allegorical 
poems  of  considerable  length.  In  the  fourteenth  century 
and  in  the  fifteenth,  too,  ballades  continued  to  be  inter- 
spersed in  narrative,  though  not  necessarily  allegorical, 
poems.  Thus,  in  Froissart's  Le  Livre  du  Tresor  Amou- 
reux,^^^  there  are  one  hundred  and  twenty-eight  ballades, 
arranged  in  three  groups,  two  of  forty-four^^^  and  one  of 
forty,  all  of  which  exhibit  a  unity  of  thought  and  feeling  in 
that  their  theme  is  "  D  'armes,  d  'amours  et  de  moralite, ' '  or, 
in  other  words,  chivalry.  The  chief  interest,  however,  for 
the  medieval  reader  lay  primarily,  we  may  suppose,  in  the 
verse  into  which  the  ballades  were  introduced,  and  not  in 
the  ballades  themselves.  Other  poems,  too,  containing  series 
of  ballades,  might  be  cited,  such  as  Machaut's  Le  Livre  du 
Voir-Dit,^^*  Christine  de  Pisan's  Le  Livre  du  Due  des  Vrais 
Ama^is,^^^  and  Le  Prisonnier  Desconforte.^'^^ 

But  at  least  three  sequences  of  one  hundred  ballades  and 
one  group  of  fifty,  unconnected  with  other  verse  or  prose, 
were  composed  at  the  height  of  the  enthusiasm  for  the  form. 
There  were  the  Cinkante  Balades,^^^  composed  by  John 

111  A.  Scheler,  CEuvres  de  Froissart  (Brussels,  1872),  Vol.  Ill, 
p.  54. 

112  In  one  of  these  groups  a  jeu-parti  occurs  between  the  poet  and  a 
knight  on  the  comparative  merits  of  success  in  arms  and  success  in 
love. 

113  Guillaume  de  Machaut,  Le  Livre  du  Voit-Dit,  with  an  introduc- 
tion by  P.  Paris  (Paris,  1885). 

114  M.  Roy,  (Euvres  Poetiques  de  Christine  de  Pisan  (Paris,  1896), 
Vol.  III. 

lisp.  Champion,  Le  Prisonnier  DesconfortS  (Paris,  1909). 
116  G.  C.  Macaulay,  The  Complete  Works  of  John  Gower  (Oxford, 
1899),  Vol.  I. 


110  THE   BALLADE 

Gowe»  in  French  verse,^^^   two  centuries  by   ''Christine 
desolee/'  and  a  third  century  by  Jean  le  Seneschal.^^^     In 
all  these  the  familiar  situations  and  sentiments  of  courtly 
s  love  figured  repeatedly. 

In  another  series  by  Christine  de  Pisan,  the  Cent  Bal- 
lades,^^^  the  thought  connection  throughout  is  much  less 
close  than  it  would  be  in  a  characteristic  sonnet  sequence 
of  the  Elizabethans.  These  sonnet  sequences^^*'  usually 
celebrate  the  matchless  perfections  of  the  beloved.  The 
beauties  of  one  individual,  more  rarely  of  several,  secure 
the  unity  of  the  collection.  But  the  Cent  Ballades,  unlike 
the  sonnet  sequences,  are  on  a  variety  of  subjects  and  seem 
to  have  been  composed  at  long  intervals.^-^  For  example, 
the  first  twenty  ballades  express  Christine's  personal  loss  in 
the  death  of  her  husband,  while  others  treat  the  general 

117  The  rhythm  is  somewhat  different  from  that  of  French  verse  on 
the  continent.  There  is  a  noticeable  conflict  between  the  syllabic 
count  and  the  accent.  Gower,  like  the  English  poets  who  wrote  bal- 
lades in  English,  did  not  conform  wholly  to  the  restrictions  of  the 
form.  Five  of  his  ballades,  for  example,  XIII,  XVI,  XIV,  XVII, 
and  LI,  are  without  refrain. 

118  G.  Raynaud,  Les  Cent  Ballades  (Paris,  1905),  p.  xliii:  ''Nous 
dirons  done,  en  combinant  les  donnees  fournies  par  le  Livre  des 
faits  et  par  le  poeme  des  Cent  Ballades  que  ce  dernier  ouvrage,  dont 
le  cadre  est  1  'ceuvre  commune  de  quatre  auteurs,  a  et6  presque  en 
entier  versifie  par  le  s6nechal  d  'Eu,  aide  partiellement  par  Boueicault, 
par  Cresecque  et  par  Philippe  d'Artois,  dont  le  collaboration  ne  sau- 
rait  etre  exactement  d^finie. '* 

119  Maurice  Roy,  CEuvres  Poctiques  de  Christine  de  Pisan  (Paris, 
1886),  Vol.  I,  p.  1.  Roy  believes  the  time  of  composition  to  cover  the 
years  between  1394  and  1399. 

120  Cf.  Sidney  Lee,  Elizabethan  Sonnets,  An  English  Garner  (West- 
minster, 1904). 

121  M.  Roy,  Opus  at.,  Vol.  T,  p.  xxvii:  "Nous  pensons  done  que 
c'est  dans  un  intervalle  d'au  moins  cinq  ou  six  ann6es  qu'ont  du  etre 
composes  la  plupart  de  ces  morceaux  poctiques." 


THE  BALLADE  IN   FRANCE  111 

subject  of  love — vicariously,  as  Balade  L  would  have  us 
believe. 

"  Aucunes  gens  porroient  mesjugier 
Pour  ce  sur  moy  que  je  fais  ditz  d'amours; 

Et  diroient  que  Pamoureux  dongier,  i 

Je  SQay  trop  bieii  compter  et  tous  les  tours,  j 

Et  que  ja  si  vivement  , 

N'en  parlasse,  sanz  Tessay  proprement,  ' 

Mais  sauve  soit  la  grace  des  diseurs, 
Je  m'en  raport  a  tous  sages  ditteurs."^22  j 

Some  wholly  different  themes,  too,  are  found.    For  example,  \ 

a  contemporary  meets  ironical  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  | 

lady : 

\ 
"  Dant  chevalier,  vous  amez,  moult  beaulz  ditz, 

Mais  je  vous  pri  que  mieulx  aimiez  beaulz  faiz."^^^  ; 

Jealous  husbands,  favorite  subjects  for  jest  in  the  Middle  | 

Ages,  come  in  for  their  share :  \ 

"  Que  ferons  nous  de  ce  mary  jaloux?  . 

Je  pry  a  Dieu  qu'on  le  puist  escorchier.  j 

Tant  se  prent  il  de  pres  garde  de  nous  i 

Que  ne  pouons  Pun  de  Fautre  approchier. 
A  male  hart  on  le  puist  atachier, 

L'ort  vil,  villain,  de  goute  contrefait,  - 

Qui  tant  de  maulz  et  tant  d'anuis  nous  fait !  "124 

Again,   entirely  different  from  these  in  tone,  is  Balade  \ 

XCIV,  as  the  closing  stanza  will  show :  ! 

"  Si  devons,  tous  et  toutes,  querir  voie 
De  parvenir  avec  la  noble  route  ' 

122  Idem,  Vol.  I,  p.  51.  ; 

123  Idem,  Vol.  I,  p.  59,  Balade  LVIII.  \ 

124  Idem,  Vol.  I,  p.  78,  Balade  LXXVIII. 

,1 
1 

\ 


112  THE  BALLADE 

Des  benois  sains,  ou  vit  et  regne  a  joye  s. 

La  tres  hault  Dieu,  en  qui  est  bonte  toute, 

Qui  nous  donra  tel  salaire, 
Se  nous  voulons  repentir  et  bien  faire, 
Ou  joye  et  paix  et  grant  gloire  est  enclose. 
Dieux  nous  y  maint  trestous  a  la  parclose  !"^^^ 

In  the  final  ballade  of  the  collection,  Christine  intimates 
that  the  hundred  were  gathered  together  at  a  friend's 
request : 

"  Cent  balades  ay  cy  escriptes, 
Trestoutes  de  mon  sentement. 
Si  en  sont  mes  promesses  quites 
A  qui  m'en  pria  ehierement. 
Nommee  m'i  suis  proprement; 
Qui  le  vouldra  savoir  ou  non, 
En  la  eentiesme  entierement 
En  escrit  y  ay  mis  mon  nom."^^* 

Who  this  friend  was  continues  to  be  a  mystery. 

The  other  century  of  ballades  composed  by  Christine,  the 
Cent  Balades  d'Amant  et  de  Dame,  was,  as  the  first  stanza 
of  the  introductory  ballade  says,  composed  at  the  behest  of 
some  gracious  lady: 

"  Quoy  que  n'eusse  corage  ne  pensee. 
Quant  a  present,  de  dits  amoureus  faire, 
Car  autre  part  ades  suis  a  pensee. 
Par  le  command  de  personne,  qui  plaire 
Doit  bien  a  tons,  ay  empris  a  parfaire 
D'un  amoureux  et  sa  dame  ensement. 
Pour  obeir  a  autrui  et  complaire, 
Cent  balades  d'amoureux  sentement."^^^ 

125  Idem,  Vol.  I,  p.  99. 

126  Idem,  Vol.  I,  p.  100. 

127  Idem,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  209. 


THE   BALLADE  IN   PRANCE  113 

After  this  introduction,  the  lady  and  her  servant  in  love 
proceed,  in  a  series  of  ballades,  to  challenge  each  other. 
The  cry  of  the  lover  is : 

"  Tournez  voz  yeulx  vers  moy,  doulce  maitresse,"^® 

The  lady's  attitude  is  indicated  by  her  observation: 

"  Ayme  qui  vouldra  amer, 
Quant  a  moy  je  n'en  fois  conte."^^* 

The  lover  reports  his  lack  of  progress  to  Amours,  and 
Amours,  in  a  ballade,  takes  the  difficult  mistress  to  task: 
"Trop  est  foUe  ta  vantise."^^^  Finally  the  lady  softens  by 
degrees.  First  she  admits,  **Assez  lone  temps  a  dure  vo 
martires.  "^^^  In  a  dialogue  within  a  single  ballade  they 
then  arrive  at  a  better  mutual  understanding.  At  length, 
in  surrender,  the  lady  says : 

"  Tienne  toute 
Suis  sans  doubte."^^ 

In  the  remaining  ballades  they  celebrate  the  passionate  per- 
fection of  accomplished  love  in  terms  of  the  courtly  conven- 
tions of  the  day;  they  grieve  over  the  inevitable  estrange- 
ments and  separations,  and  in  the  end,  the  lady,  "Au  lit 
malade  couchiee, '  *  is  made  to  say : 

"  A  Dieu,  Amours ;  aprouchiee 
Suis  de  mort  par  toy;  j'en  sue 
Ja  la  sueur,  et  fichiee 
Suis  ou  pas,  m'ame  perdue 

128  Idem,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  220. 

129  Idem,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  215. 

130  Idem,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  219. 

131  Idem,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  235. 

132  Idem,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  243. 

9 


114  ;  /    THE   BALLADE 

Ne  soit  pas  mais  de  Dieu  eue 
A  Dieu,  monde,  a  Dieu,  honneurs, 
J^ay  yeulx  troubles  et  voix  mue. 
Car  ja  me  deffault  li  eueurs."^^^ 

Gower's  CinJcante  Balades  belong  approximately  to  the 
same  period^^*  as  Christine 's  Cent  Balades.  Like  hers,  they 
are  for  the  most  part  impersonal.  The  prose  glosses  to 
Balades  V  and  VI  show  clearly  that  the  series  is  in  no  sense 
autobiographical.  For  Gower  says  of  the  first  five  that  they 
are  made  especially  *'pour  ceaux  q'attendont  lours  amours 
par  droite  mariage,"  and  of  the  rest  that  they  are  "uni- 
verseles  a  tout  le  monde,  selonc  les  prophetes  et  les  con- 
dicions  des  Amantz,  qui  sont  diversement  travailez  en  la 
fortune  d 'amour."  And,  moreover,  five  of  the  halades^^^ 
are  plainly  from  the  feminine  point  of  view.  Various 
favorite  ballade  themes  are  treated  by  Gower.  Love  is  his 
chief  business,  however,  and  love  according  to  the  mode  of 
the  age. 

In  contrast,  Les  Cent  Ballades  of  Jean  le  Seneschal  have 
considerable  plot.  In  his  own  person,  he  begins  the  story : 
One  day,  when,  as  a  young  man,  he  is  on  the  road  between 
Angers  and  les  Ponts-de-Ce,  he  meets  a  knight.  This  older 
cavalier,  seeing  that  the  young  man  is  distracted  and  sad, 
immediately  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  he  is  in  love,  and, 
as  a  man  of  experience,  he  lays  down  certain  rules  of  con- 
duct in  matters  of  love  and  of  chivalry;  he  expounds  the 

133  M.  Eoy,  Opus  at.,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  307. 

18*  G.  C.  Macaulay,  The  Works  of  John  Gower  (Oxford,  1899),  Vol. 
T,  p.  Ixxiii:  "In  any  case  it  seems  certain  that  some  at  least  of  the 
balades  were  composed  with  a  view  to  the  court  of  Henry  TV,  and  the 
collection  assumed  its  present  shape  probably  in  the  year  of  his  ac- 
cession, 1399,  for  we  know  that  either  in  the  first  or  second  year  of 
Henry  IV  the  poet  became  blind  and  ceased  to  write." 

135  XLI-XLV.  XLVI. 


THE   BALLADE   IN   FRANCE  115 

doctrines  of  love  and  of  war  and  shows  how  real  happiness 
in  love  lies  in  loyalty.  This  advice,  given  in  the  first  fifty 
ballades,  the  pupil  promises  to  follow.  Almost  six  months 
later,  he  is  put  to  the  test.  On  the  banks  of  the  Loire,  in 
the  midst  of  a  brilliant  company,  one  of  the  ladies  takes  him 
aside  and  taxes  him  with  his  ideal  of  faith  in  love.  She 
praises  the  charms  of  fickleness,  and  prophesies  that  his 
absurd  obstinacy  will  in  the  end  lead  to  his  utter  boredom. 
Finally,  dismayed  by  his  attitude,  she  suggests  recourse  to 
judges.  He  intimates  ironically  that  the  case  is  merely 
between  treachery  in  love  and  true  faith.  But  the  lady 
insists  that  he  states  the  question  unfairly  and  that  true 
happiness  in  love  lies  not  in  exalting  constancy  too  highly 
or  in  condemning  fickleness  too  vociferously.  She  will 
admit  no  disloyalty  to  any  one  lover  in  a  multiplicity  of 
lovers.  The  three  judges  by  whom  the  debate  is  to  be 
settled  hold  with  the  young  man  that  loyalty  in  love  brings 
the  only  true  happiness,  whereupon  all  four  resolve  to  make 
a  book  out  of  this  joint  adventure. ^^^ 

136  Gaston  Eaynaud,  Les  Cent  Ballades  par  Jean  le  Seneschal 
(Paris,  1905),  p.  xxxiv:  "Le  po^me  n'est  en  realite  qu'un  dehat 
poetique  entre  deux  parties,  dont  1  'une  representee  par  le  vieux  cheva- 
lier Hutin,  soutient  la  cause  de  Loyaute  en  amour,  et  dont  1 'autre, 
sous  les  traits  d  'une  jeune  dame  designee  sous  le  nom  de  la  Guignarde 
defend  au  contraire  les  droits  de  Faussete."  The  series  is  thought 
to  have  been  composed  during  a  pilgrimage  of  the  author's  in  the 
Holy  Land.  In  regard  to  the  date  of  the  poems  and  the  circumstances 
under  which  they  were  given  publicity,  Eaynaud  has  the  following 
to  say  (pp.  xlviii-xlix) :  "En  octobre  1389,  les  pterins  rentrent 
en  France . . . '  ils  trouv^rent  en  leur  chemin  le  roy,  qui  estoit  a  1  'ab- 
baye  de  Clugny.  ...  Si  les  recent  le  roy  moult  joyeusement,  et  grand 
f este  fit  de  leur  venue. '  Ce  ne  f ut  certainement  pas  durant  les  fetes 
de  Cluny  que  se  tint  le  puy  ou  les  auteurs  des  Cent  Ballades  pro- 
posaient  aux  amateurs  de  poesie  la  question  a  traiter  de  la  superiority 
de  1 'amour  loyal  ou  de  1 'amour  volage.  Nous  savons  en  effet  que  le 
due  de  Berry,  qui  prit  part  au  concours,  ne  se  trouvait  pas  a  Cluny  et 


116  THE   BALLADE 

The  give  and  take  of  the  lady  and  her  sensible  cavalier 
are  well  shown  in  the  sixteenth  Balade: 

"  Or  me  dittes,  se  trouviez 
Belle  dame,  douce,  plaisant, 
Et  a  son  maintien  veiez 
Que  d' Amours  vous  moustrast  semblant, 
Vouldriez  la  par  convenant 
Qu'amie  la  deussiez  elamer?" 
— "  Nennin,  car  j'aim  ma  dame  tant 
Qu'autre  ne  quier,  ne  veul  amer." 

— "  Et  SQ  price  Faviez 
De  s'amour,  en  lui  requerant 
La  sienne  que  tant  vouldriez, 
Et  de  ce  vous  fust  refusant, 
Dittes  moi,  des  la  en  avant 
Vouldriez  vous  sien  demourer?" 
— "  Oil,  certes;  je  vous  creant 
Qu'autre  ne  quier,  ne  veul  amer." 

— "  Certes,  fil,  mestier  ariez 

De  bon  conseil,  car  maintenant 

Voy  qu^avenir  ne  sariez 

Aus  grans  biens  qu^alez  desirant. 

Pour  ce  vous  pry  que  tant  ne  quant 

Ne  maintenez  ce  fol  penser." 

qu'il  rcncontra  le  cortege  royal  pour  la  premiere  fois  k  Avignon,  le 
30  octobre  1389.  Huit  jours  plus  tard,  le  samedi  6  novembre,  apr^s 
de  nombreuses  fetes  .  .  .  Charles  VI  quittait  la  ville,  signifiant  a  ses 
deux  oncles  de  Bourgogne  et  de  Berrj  son  desir  de  ne  pas  etre  ac- 
compagne  par  eux  dans  la  suite  de  son  voyage  .  .  .  Nous  sommes 
done  naturellement  amen6  k  conclure  que  le  concours  po6tique  fait  k 
1 'occasion  des  Cent  Ballades,  ovl  figure  le  due  de  Berry,  a  dii  se  pro- 
duire  k  Avignon  pendant  le  s^jour  du  roi,  au  nombre  des  f§tes  .  .  . 
alors  que  la  rupture  entre  le  roi  et  le  due  de  Berry  n'etait  pas  encore 
prononc^e. ' ' 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  117 

— "  Ne  m'alez  plus  de  ce  parlant, 
Qu'autre  ne  quier,  ne  veul  amer."^^^ 

An  interesting  supplement  to  the  work  of  Jean  le  Sene- 
schal is  the  little  series  of  thirteen  ballades,  the  answers  of 
as  many  amateurs,  who  undertook  one  side  or  the  other  of  the 
controversy.  Two  of  the  poets  support  the  claims  of  fickle- 
ness ;  seven  champion  constancy,  and  four  take  an  amused, 
slightly  skeptical  tone  with  no  reference  to  the  real  issue. 
Of  the  advocates  of  constancy,  Guy  VI  de  la  Tremoille^^® 
may  be  the  spokesman.  The  first  stanza  of  his  reply  con- 
firms the  point  of  view  of  the  young  cavalier  in  Les  Cent 
Ballades: 

"  De  grant  honneur  amoureux  enrichir 
Ne  pent  s'il  n'a  Loyaute  en  s'aye, 
Et  pour  ce  fay  dedens  mon  euer  florir 
Loyal  amour  d'umilite  gamie, 
Dont  doucement  sans  Faussete  servie 
Sera  la  flour  non  pareille  d'onneur, 
De  grant  beaute,  de  bonte,  de  valeur, 
Qui  de  mon  cuer  souveraine  maistresse 
Est  et  sera:  s'aray  dame  et  seignour: 
En  ciel  un  dieu,  en  terre  une  diesse."^^® 

The  Satirical  Ballade 

Satire  in  the  centuries  in  which  the  'ballade  flourished 
was  largely  directed  against  the  frailties  of  the  Church  and 
of  the  court,  and  against  the  sins  and  stupidities  of  women. 
In  ballade  literature,  the  clergy  rarely,  the  aristocracy  more 
often,  and  the  feminine  sex  most  often,  are  the  objects  of 
attack.  The  jargon  of  the  lowest  grades  of  Paris  society 
was  used  by  Villon  and  by  many  other  poets  in  their  gross 

137  G.  Eaynaud,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  119. 

138  Born  1343. 

139  G.  Raynaud,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  221. 


118  THE   BALLADE 

attacks  on  gross  abuses/*^  The  satirical  '^sotte"  ballade, 
nearly  always  expressed  in  terms  of  unspeakable  indecency, 
assailed  institutions  and  individuals  indiscriminately.  Most 
of  these  are  unprintable,  and  because  of  their  dialect  for- 
tunately incomprehensible  to  all  but  special  students  of 
jargon  or  thieves'  patter.^*^ 

A  ballade  of  Roger  de  Collerye  here  given  represents  the 
type  of  satire  in  which  the  restraints  of  decency  were  not 
felt. 

"  Contre  les  clercs  de  chastellet. 
La  Bazoche. 

Dormez  vous?  quoy!  est  il  vray  ie  men  plains. 
Sus,  mes  suppostz  gectez  regrectz  &  plains 
Ou  aultrement  ie  n'en  seray  eontente. 
Est  il  saison  par  chemins  &  par  plains 
De  songer  creux?  non  non  ie  me  complains 
Tout  a  part  moy  de  vostre  longe  attente 
Bazoehiens,  qu'on  ne  se  meseontente, 
Car  il  est  diet,  sans  faire  grant  hahay 
Que  vous  iourrez  ce  ioly  moys  de  may. 

Laissez  courir  gensdarmes  &  leurs  train 
Postes,  heraulx,  sil  vient  quilz  soient  contrains 
De  desmarcher  ainsi  qui  Ie  vent  vente. 
Que  voz  esbas  ne  soient  iamais  estains! 

140  Marcel  Schwob,  Parnasse  Satyrique  du  XV  Sidcle  (Paris,  1905). 
Cf.  also,  S.  Raynaud,  Ballade  Addressee  a  Charles  VII  contre  Arthur 
de  Bichemont,  Connetdble  de  France,  Bulletin  de  la  SocietS  des 
Anciens  Textes  Frangais  (Paris,  1910),  p.  45;  and  P.  Champion, 
Pieces  Joyeuses  des  XVe  Sidcle,  Bevue  de  Philologie  Frangaise,  Vol. 
XXI,  pp.  182-192,  imesim. 

1*1  Cf.  Villon's  'ballades  in  jargon  and  Les  Contredictz  de  Franc 
Gontier;  see  A.  Longnon  CEuvres  Computes  de  Frangois  Villon  (Paris, 
1892),  p.  83  and  P.  Champion,  Frangois  Villon,  sa  Viet  et  ses  (Euvres 
(Paris,  1913),  Vol.  I,  pp.  194-196. 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  119 

De  laschete  ne  fustes  one  attaint 
II  est  tout  vray  i'en  ay  lectre  patente. 
Continuez,  vous  ares  vostre  rente : 
Grans  et  petis  sactendent  de  cueur  gay 
Que  vous  iourrez  ce  ioly  moys  de  may. 

Suppostz  gentilz,  ajnues,  doubtez  (&|  crains, 
Empoignes  moy  ces  tripiers  a  beaulx  crains, 
Des  auiourdhuy  contre  eux  ie  me  presente. 
Ce  sont  poissars,  pipereaulx,  mal  mondains, 
Punectz,  infectz  &  puans  comme  dains; 
Qui  ne  me  croit,  qu'on  les  experimente."^*^ 
Du  cardinal  ia  ne  fault  que  i'en  mente 
S'il  n'est  papa,  papelart,  papegay, 
Si  iourrez  vous  ce  ioly  moys  de  may. 

Prince,  ie  dis  come  dame  et  regente, 
Et  pour  oster  tout  ennuy  &  esmay, 
Veu  &  congneu  vostre  maniere  gente, 
Que  vous  iourrez  ce  ioly  moys  de  may.^*^ 

Many  of  the  satires  against  women^^*  are  written  in  the 
language  of  the  gutter,  but  some  are  entrusted  to  the  ordi- 
nary vernacular.  Deschamps  has  a  halade  ''contre  les 
femmes"  with  the  refrain,  ''II  n'est  chose  que  femmene  con- 
comme."^*^  Villon  spares  no  vicious  detail  in  the  Ballads 
de  la  Belle  E'eaidmiere  aux  Filles  de  loie.^*^    And  in  his 

1*2  Of  the  institution  of  the  Bazoehe,  H.  Guy,  L  'Ecole  des  BhStori- 
queurs  (Paris,  1910),  p.  56,  says:  ^'Satirique  et  joviale  association 
des  clercs  du  palais. "  See  A.  Fabre,  Les  Clercs  du  Palais  (Lyon, 
1875). 

143X65  CEuvres  de  Boger  de  Collerye  (Paris,  1536),  Sig  Nii\ 

144  An  interesting  account  of  this  subject  is  given  in  T.  L.  Neff, 
La  Satire  des  Femmes  dans  la  Poesie  Lyrique  Frangaise  du  Moyen 
Age  (Paris,  1900). 

145  Le  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire,  CEuvres  Completes  de 
Eustache  Deschamps  (Paris,  1882),  Vol.  II,  p.  36. 

146  A.  Longnon,  (Euvres  de  Frangois  Villon  (Paris,  1892),  p.  42. 


120  THE  BALLADE 

Ballade  de  Bonne  Doctrine  a  Ceux  de  Mauvaise  Vie,^*'  his 
refrain  is :  * '  Tout  aux  tauernes  &  aux  filles. ' ' 

Bouchet,  too,  has  his  say  against  consuming  loves.  He 
follows  the  courtly  lovers  in  searching  the  past  for  examples 
of  affection  lavished  on  the  ladies : 

Balade  cotre  foUes  Amours. 

"  Tout  homme,  qui  bien  se  gouueme 
Entre  les  mondains  sagement, 
Pres  foUes  femmes  ne  se  yueme, 
Mais  fuyt  d'amours  Pembrasement ; 
Amour  est  vng  feu  vehement 
Dont  viennent  les  grandes  chaleurs 
Qui  font  a  tout  entendement, 
Pour  vng  plaisir  mille  douleurs. 

Sanson  y  lessa  sa  lanteme, 
Dauid  en  plora  longuement, 
La  teste  y  pardit  Olopheme, 
Troye  en  perist  piteusement, 
Philix  pour  aymer  follement 
Se  pendi  apres  cris  &  pleurs, 
Tarquin  en  eust  pour  paiement, 
Pour  vng  plaisir  mille  douleurs. 

Salomon,  la  clere  luserne. 

En  mescongneust  Dieu  faulcement, 

Et  vergille  au  vent  de  galeme 

Fut  tout  vng  iour  publiquement ; 

Aristote  facillement 

S^en  lessa  brider;  quelz  en-eurs 

Tons  en  eurent  certainnement, 

Pour  vng  plaisir  mille  douleurs. 

147  A.  Longnon,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  93.     Cf.  P.  Champion,  Francois  Vil- 
lon, sa  Vie  et  ses  CEuvres  (Paris,  1913),  Vol.  T,  p.  79. 


THE   BALLADE   IN   PRANCE  121                      ) 

Prince,  vous  voyez  clerement  j 
Damours  les  petites  valleurs, 

Et  qu'on  y  a  finablement,  j 
Pour  vng  plaisir  mille  douleurs."^^^ 

In  Gracien  du  Pont's  Les  Controverses  des  Sexes  Mascu-  i 

lin  et  Feminin,^^^  the  masculine  sex  is  actually  moved  to  j 

call  on  the  author  for  aid  against  the  ''grande  follie"  of  ,l 

the  ladies:  ] 

] 
"  Balade  unisonne  a  refrain,  contenant  la  priere  et 

supplication  du  sexe  masculin  enuers  I'autheur.  ' 

En  luy  priant  le  vouloir  secourir  et  deffendre.  I 

Le  sexe  masculin.  \ 

Frere  germain:  humblement  si  te  prye  '\ 

Le  pouure  corps :  qui  de  toy  tant  se  f ye :  | 

Guer  son  affaire:  le  veuilles  secourir  ^ 

Femenin  sexe :  par  sa  gi'ande  f  ollie  : 

La  tant  blesse :  de  mainete  villainie  • 

Que  de  grand  dueil :  en  est  cuyde  mourir  ^ 

Par  quoy  te  vient:  de  bon  cueur  requerir  i 

Qua  le  deffendre:  tu  veuilles  estre  enclin  ' 

Guarde  Thonneur:  du  sexe  masculin.  ,' 

Je  scay  tres  bien :  sans  nulle  flatterie  ] 

Que  si  tu  veule:  mettre  ta  fantasie  j 

Facillement:  la  scauras  mainctenir  1 

Car  mainct  passaige:  de  la  theologie  j 

Du  droict  commun :  et  de  philosophic  1 
En  trouveras:  pour  le  bien  soubstenir 
Ne  parmectz  plus:  si  mal  lentretenir 

Je  ten  supplie :  mon  doulx  frere  begnin  ; 
Garde  I'honneur:  du  sexe  masculin. 

1*8  lehan  Bouchet,  XIII  Eondeaux  Differens.     Auec  XXV  Balades 
Differentes  (Paris,  1536).     Sig.  Cv^ 
1*9  Toulouse,  1584. 


122  THE   BALLADE 

Ce  nest  rien  plus:  le  droict  de  ma  partie 

Que  oppinion :  caquet  et  menterie  i 

Pensant  bon  droiet:  en  maulvais  conuertir  j 

Par  ses  propoz:  et  grande  bauerie  \ 

Par  ses  menasses :  et  par  sa  crierie  ' 

Pense  les  gens:  de  raison  diuertir  ^ 

De  telz  abuz:  je  tous  veule  advertir  i 

En  declairant:  son  cauteleux  engin  ; 
Garde  Fhonneur:  du  sexe  maseulin. 

Lenuoy 

Frere  lequel:  sans  plus  men  enquerir  ] 

En  brief z  de  jours:  tous  mes  maulx  peulx  guerir  i 

Et  mon  proces:  mettre  du  tout  afifin  < 

Garde  I'honneur:  du  sexe  maseulin."  j 

"  Balade  unissone  a  refrain  et  coronnee  par  ' 

equiuocques  du  sexe  maseulin  se  complaignant  du  ; 

sexe  femenin  priant  lautheur  derechief  se  vouloir  « 

seeourir. 

Le  sexe  maseulin 

Las  je  me  plains:  de  mainctz  estourdiz  dictz 
Qua  ma  partie :  par  faulx  intenditz  ditz 
Contre  I'honneur:  de  mes  fleurissanz  sens 

Dont  par  le  juge :  des  dampnez  maulditz  dis  ; 

Auant  desjours:  si  me  mesconditz  dir  J 

Lauras  vaincu :  tes  faictz  si  puissans  sentz 
Mes  desirs  sont:  a  toy  addressans  sens 
Auoir  le  cueur:  vers  aultre  quelquil  soit 

De  motz  picque :  suys  par  mainctz  fissans  cens  1 

Les  bons  amys :  au  besoing  Ion  eognoist.  j 

Laisse  pour  moy :  tous  les  amolliz  lictz 
Et  prens  tes  liures :  ou  par  mes  delictz  liz 
Et  trouueras:  des  motz  competens  tantz 


THE   BALLADE   IN   PRANCE  123 

Las  je  trouuerez :  si  mal  ses  dediuctz  duitz 
Que  si  trouue:  ieusse  nulz  conduitz  dhuys 
Leusse  fouy:  par  long  (comme  entendz)  temps 
En  brief  vaincuz :  ces  dictz  inconstans  tendz 
Par  toy  si  peine :  tu  mectz  en  cest  endroict 
Ses  arcz  desprit:  les  plus  resistans  tendz 
Les  bons  amys:  au  besoing  Ion  congnoist. 

Sur  tous  viuans :  dargumens  essuytz  suy 
Car  en  oyant :  ce  que  je  pour  suys  sueiz 
De  despit  queuz:  ouyr  telz  meschantz  chantz 
Gaigner  cuydoit:  dhonneur  par  surpris  pris 
Se  monstrant  f  ol :  sur  toutz  les  marchantz  champs 
En  luy  abbatras :  ses  f aulx  decepuans  ventz 
Tant  par  raison :  que  par  le  commun  droiet 
A  toy  mes  droictz :  sans  nulz  reservans  vendz 
Les  bons  amys:  au  besoing  Ion  congnoist, 

Enuoy 

Prince  puyssant :  sur  tous  les  regentz  gentz 
Conforte  moy:  si  poinct  faire  se  doibt 
Car  comme  disent:  pouures  indigens  gens 
Les  bons  amys:  au  besoing  Ion  congnoist." 

The  king  and  the  court  were  naturally  in  a  position  to  be 
treated  more  tenderly  by  the  satirist.  In  the  twenty-five 
ballades  by  Meschinot  and  Chastellain,  appended  to  Les 
Lunettes  de  Princes  of  Meschinot,  one  of  which  is  given 
below,  Louis  XI  is  the  object  of  the  satire : 

"  On  ne  pent  mieulx  perdre  le  no  dhoneur 
Que  soy  trouuer  desloyal  &  menteur, 
Lasche  en  armes,  cruel  a  ses  amys, 
A  meschans  gens  estre  large  dhonneur, 
sans  congnoistre  ceulx  en  qui  est  valeur, 
Mais  acquerir  en  tout  temps  ennemys ; 
Tel  homme  doit  auoir  mendicite, 


124  THE   BALLADE 

Gastea'  son  temps  en  infelieite, 

Sans  faire  ries  qua  dieu  naux  home  plaise. 

II  sera  plain  dopprobres  &  diffames, 

Cest  cil  que  tons  les  vertueux  sans  blasmes 

Vont  mauldisant  pour  sa  vie  mauluaise. 

Le  peu  scauant  abondant  sermonneur 
Du  nom  de  dieu  homble  blasphemeur, 
Sans  rien  tenir  de  ce  quil  a  promis, 
Qui  nescoute  des  poures  la  clameur, 
Mais  les  cotrainct  par  moleste  &  rigeur, 
Cobien  quil  soit  pour  leur  pasteur  comis 
se  verra  cheoir  en  grant  perplexite, 
Par  son  deffault  &  imbecillite, 
se  lire  dieu  de  brief  il  ne  repaise 
Nomme  sera  du  nombre  de  infames 
Le  malheureux :  que  tons  seigneurs  et  dames 
Vont  mauldisant  pour  sa  vie  mauluaise. 

II  naffiert  pas  a  vng  prince  ou  seignewr, 
Qui  de  vertus  doibt  paroistre  enseigneur, 
estre  inconstant  ne  aux  vices  submis, 
Pour  ce  quil  est  des  aultres  gouuerneur; 
Cest  bie  raison  quil  soit  saige  &  raeilleur 
Que  ceulx  a  tel  estat  nest  permis, 
Pour  eseheuer  toute  prolixite, 
Comme  deuant  a  este  recite. 
le  diray  vray,  ou  il  fault  que  me  taise, 
II  nest  mestier  que  pour  sage  te  clames, 
se  celuy  es  que  raisonnables  ames 
Vot  mauldisant  pour  sa  vie  mauluaise. 

Georges 

Prince  ennemy  daultruy  felicite 
De  propre  sang  de  propre  affinite 
De  propre  paix  qui  le  tient  a  son  aise 
Quest  il  celuy  fort  hayneux  a  soymesmes 


THE   BALLADE   IN   PRANCE  125 

et  que  la  voix  de  tous  homes  &  femmes 

Vont  mauldisant  pour  sa  vie  mauluaise."^'^®  : 

The  first  stanza  of  a  dialogue  ballade,  by  Henri  Baude,  i 

describes  the  plight  of  an  exiled  favorite  of  Louis  XI  i 

(1466)  :  I 

"Ballade  Faicte  Pour  Mgr.  de  Dampmartin 

Contre  Messire  Charles  de  Meslung.  \ 

Dont  viens-tu,  Martin? — De  Melun.  ] 

— Et  que  dit-on?     J'ai  veu  Chariot?  j 

— Par  ta  foy?    II  est  tout  commun,  J 

Aussi  camus  comme  ung  rabot.  ' 
— En  bon  poinct?    Rond  comme  ung  sabot? 

— Quelle  chiere  fait-il?     Triste  et  mome.  ; 

— Et  que  fait-il?    Sans  dire  mot,  ] 

II  actent  que  le  vent  se  toume."^^^  I 

And  the  Court  itself  is  attacked  in  another  ballade  by  the  | 

same  author :  ' 

Ballade  en  Dialogue  ] 

Sur  le  mauvais  comportement  de  la  court.  j 

J'allasse  en  court,  se  j'eusse  de  I'argent.  j 

— A  quoy  faire? — Pour  avoir  ung  office.  ] 

— Les  y  vent-on?     Ouy,  tres-chierement.  ' 

— Pourquoy  est-ce? — Par  faulte  de  police.  ) 

— Je  m'en  plaindroie. — Et  a  qui? — A  justice.  j 

— Justice,  dort,  encor  n'est  esveillee.  \ 

150  Les  Lunettes  des  Princes  avec  Aulcunes  Balades  4"  Additions  ! 
Nouuellement  Composee  par  NoMe  Homme  lehan  Meschinot  Escuyer  ' 
en  son  Viuant  Grant  Maistre  dHotel  de  la  Boyne  de  France  (Paris,  j 
1539),  sig.  Ivi''-Ivii'.  ' 

151  J.  Quicherat,  Les  Vers  de  Maitre  Eenn  Baude  (Paris,  1856),  | 
p.  20. 


126  THE   BALLADEi 

— Dont  precede? — Le  quoy? — Ceste  malice. 
— ^De  nostre  court  qu'est  mal  conseillee."^^^ 

A  ballade  of  CoUerye's  " centre  les  flatteurs  de  Court" 
begins  thus : 

"  Pour  succumber  le  train  imbecial 
Qui  court  en  court,  de  flatteurs  impudiques 
Premeditant  d'ung  sens  trop  bestial 
Villipender  bons  servans  domestiques, 
Tympaniser  par  criz  haulx  et  publiques 
Et  organer  d'un  chant  vil,  sans  accord 
Convient  leurs  noms;  par  moyens  ebloiques, 
De  raporteurs  vient  tout  mal  et  discord."^^^ 

Mildly  satirical  in  tone  is  Sarrasin's  Balade  du  Pays  de 
Cocqgne : 

"Ne  loiions  Plsle  ou  Fortune  jadis 
Mit  ses  tresors,  ny  la  plaine  Elisee, 
Ny  de  Mahom  le  noble  Paradis; 
Car  chacun  sgait  que  c'est  billevesee. 
Par  nous  plutot  Cocagne  soit  prisee; 
C'est  bons  Pais;  I'Almanach  point  ne  ment, 
Oil  Ton  le  voit  depeint  fort  dignement. 
Or  pour  sQavoir  ou  git  cette  compagne, 
Je  le  diray  disant  pays  en  Nonnand 
Le  Pays  de  Caux  est  le  Pays  de  Cocagne. 

Tons  les  Mardys  sont  de  gras  Mardys, 
De  ces  Mardys  FAnnee  est  composee. 
Cailles  y  vont  dans  le  plat  dix  a  dix, 
Et  perdreaux  tendres  comme  rosee. 
Le  fruit  y  pleut,  si  que  c'est  chose  ais6e 
De  le  cueillir  se  baissant  seulement. 

152  J.  Quicherat,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  79,  st.  1. 

i^a  Charles  d 'llericault,  Les  CEuvres  de  Boger  de  Collerye   (Paris, 
1855),  p.  169. 


THE  BALLADE   IN   FRANCE  127  \ 

Poissons  en  beun-e  y  nagent  largement, 

Fleuves  y  sont  du  meilleiir  vin  d'Espagne,  \ 

Et  tout  cela  fait  dire  tardement  ] 

Le  pays  de  Caux  est  le  Pays  de  Cocagne.  1 

Pour  les  Beautez  de  ces  lieux,  Amadis  i 

Eut  Oriane  en  son  temps  meprisee; 
Bien  donnerois  quatre  maravedis 
Si  j'en  avois  une  seule  baisee. 

Plus  cointes  sont  que  n'est  une  Epousee,  i 

Et  dans  Palais  s'ebattent  noblement  , 

Pres  leur  deduit  &  leur  ebatement 
Rien  n'eut  paru  la  Cour  de  Charlemagne, 
Quoy  que  Turpin  en  ecrive  autrement  ] 

Le  Pays  de  Caux  est  le  Pays  de  Cocagne."^^*  i 

i 
A  hallade  in  the  vein  of  light  literary  satire,  not  wholly  ] 

lacking  in  a  kind  of  genuine  admiration,  is  Sarrasin's  in  his  j 

Pompe  Funehre  de  Voiture    (1648).     The  poem  is  here  I 

printed   with   the   introduction   that   precedes   it   in    the  i 

burlesque : 

"Ces  Romaneiers  etoient  suivis  d^une  troupe  de  bonnes  gens,  se 
lamentans  pitoyablement :  C'etaient  nos  vieux  Poetes  que  Voiture 
avoit  remis  en  vogue  par  ses  Balades,  ses  Triolets,  &  ses  Rondeaux,  i 

&  qui  par  sa  mort  retoumoient  dans  leur  ancien  decry.     Marot,  S 

qui  sur  tons  luy  etoit  le  plus  oblige,  se  plaignant  plus  fortement  ; 

que  les  autres  &  a  demy  desespere,  leur  chantoit  cette  Balade. 

Balade  j 

Maitre  Vincent  nous  avoit  retirez,  i 

Par  ses  beaux  Vers  faits  a  notre  maniere, 
Des  dents  des  Vers  nos  ennemis  jurez,  ] 

Du  long  oubly,  d'une  sale  poussiere.  '; 

Lors  que  jadis  nous  tenions  cour  pleniere,  ] 

Tout  gentil  coeur  composoit  un  Rondeau.  j 

154  Les  CEuvres  de  M.  Sarrasin  (Paris,  1694),  p.  400. 


128  THE   BALLADE 

Vielle  Balade  etoit  un  fruit  nouveau. 
Les  Triolets  avoient  grosse  pratique, 
Tout  nous  rioit :  mais  tout  est  a  vau — Feau, 
Voiture  est  mort,  adieu  la  Muse  antique. 

Biens  est  raison  que  soyons  eplorez 
Quand  Atropos  la  Parque  Safraniere, 
En  retranchant  les  beaux  filets  dorez 
Oil  tant  se  plut  sa  Soeur  la  Filandiere, 
A  fait  tomber  Voiture  dans  la  biere. 
Bien  nous  faut-il  prendre  le  Chalumeau, 
Et  tristement,  ainsi  qu^au  renouveau 
Le  Rossignol  au  bocage  rustique, 
Chaeun  chanter  en  pleurant  comme  un  veau, 
Voiture  est  mort,  adieu  la  Muse  antique. 

Or  nous  serons  par  tout  deshonorez, 
L'un  sera  mis  en  comets  d'Epiciere; 
L'autre  expose  dans  les  lieux  egarez 
Oil  les  Mortels  d'une  posture  fiere 
Luy  toumeront  par  mepris  le  derriere. 
Plusieurs  seront  balayez  au  ruisseau, 
Maint  au  foyer  trainent  en  maint  lambeau 
Sera  brule  comme  un  traitre  Heretique : 
Chaeun  de  nous  aura  part  au  gateau, 
Voiture  est  mort,  adieu  la  Muse  antique. 

Envoy 
Prince  Apollon,  un  funeste  Corbeau, 
En  croassant  au  sommet  d'un  Ormeau, 
A  dit  d'une  voix  prophetique, 
Bouqins,  Bouqins,  rentrez  dans  le  tombeau, 
Voiture  est  mort,  adieu  la  Muse  antique."^*** 

The  Historical  Ballade 

French  history  also  finds  expression  in  ballades.    Both 
important  and  unimportant  events,  royal  marriages,  treaties, 
iBBLe«  (Euvres  de  M.  Sarrasin  (Paris,  1694),  pp.  268-270. 


THE  BALLADE  IN  PRANCE  129 

campaigns,  and  military  heroes,  furnished  at  various  times 
the  subject  matter  of  this  fixed  verse  form.  Great  historical 
poetry  was  not  produced.  The  formal  nature  of  the  ballade 
precluded  the  effects  of  Drayton 's  ballad  on  Agincourt,  or 
of  Wolfe's  Burial  of  Sir  John  More. 

In  the  wealth  of  ballades  furnished  by  Deschamps  we 
find  a  ballade  *'sur  la  naissance  de  Charles  VI  et  de  Louis 
d 'Orleans  son  frere,"^^^  the  refrain  of  which  is,  ''Par  ce 
sgara  chascun  ceste  naissance";  another  *'Sur  le  mort  de 
Bertrand  du  Guesclin"  (1380),^"  with  a  refrain,  *'Plourez, 
plourez,  flour  de  chevalerie";  another  *'sur  la  Treve  Faite 
avec  L 'Angleterre "  (1394),^^^  with  the  refrain,  ''Paix 
n'arez  ja  s'ilz  ne  rendent  Calays."  The  envoy  of  Des- 
champs's  ballade  ''sur  le  mariage  de  Richard,  roi  d'Angle- 
terre  et  d  'Isabeau  de  France ' '  is  pathetic  in  its  unconscious- 
ness of  the  real  outcome  of  the  match : 

L'Envoy 

"Princes  royaulx,  de  bonne  affection 
Querez  la  paix  et  reformacion 
De  voz  subgiez,  et  vous  ferez  que  saige, 
Par  le  traittie  d'umble  conjunction. 
S'estes  tout  un,  ne  doubtez,  nascion: 
Toute  paix  vint  par  un  saint  mariaige."^^^ 

Christine  de  Pisan,  in  1404,  wrote  a  ballade  '  *  Complainte 
sur  le  mort  de  Philippe  Le  Hardi,  Due  de  Bourgongne, '  '^^'^ 

136  Le  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire,  CEuvres  Completes  de 
Eustache  Deschamps  (Paris,  1878),  Vol.  I,  p.  146. 

15T  Idem,  Vol.  II,  p.  27.  There  is  another  on  the  same  subject  on 
p.  29. 

158  Idem,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  62. 

159  Idem,  Vol.  VI,  p.  134.  ' 

160  M.  Roy,  CEuvres  Poetiques  de  Christine  de  Pisan  (Paris,  1886), 
Vol.  I,  p.  255. 

10 


130  THE  BALLADE) 

with  the  refrain,  ''Affaire  eussions  du  bon  due  de  Bour- 
gongne. '  '^^^ 

A  well  known  historical  ballade  has  for  its  subject  "I'etat 
de  la  France  apres  la  bataille  d'Agincourt"  (1415)  : 

"  Cy  veoit-on  que  par  piteuse  adventure 
Prince  regnant,  plein  de  sa  voulente, 
Sang  si  divers  qui  de  I'autre  n'a  cure, 
Conseil  suspect  de  parcialite, 
Poeple  destruit  par  prodigalite, 
Feront  encore  tant  de  gens  mendier 
Qu'a  ung  chascun  f auldra  faire  mestier. 

Noblesse  fait  encontre  sa  nature; 
Le  clergie  craint  et  cele  verite; 
Humble  commun  obeit  et  endure; 
Faulx  protecteur  luy  font  adversite 
Mais  trop  souffrir  induit  necessite 
Dont  advendra,  ce  que  ja  voir  ne  quier, 
Qu'a  ung  chascun  fauldra  faire  mestier. 

Foible  ennemi,  en  grant  desconfiture 

Victorien  et  pou  debilite; 

Provision  verbal  qui  petit  dure, 

Dont  mille  riens  n'en  est  execute; 

Le  roy  des  cieulx  meisme  est  persecute! 

La  fin  viendra,  et  nostre  estat  dernier 

Qu'a  ung  chascun  fauldra  faire  mestier.^^^^ 

Fifty  years  later,  under  circumstances  described  in  the 
Memoire  de  Jacques  Duclercq  (liv.  V,  ch.  XXIV), ^^^  the 
following  was  composed : 

101  This  duke  of  Burgundy  was  the  father  of  John  the  Fearless, 
slayer  of  Louis  d 'Orleans. 

i«2  Le  Roux  de  Liney,  Recueil  de  Chants  Eistoriques  Frangais 
(Paris,  1844),  p.  296. 

168 Le  Roux  de  Lincy,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  352:  "Or  au  mois  de  juillet 
1465,  lorsque  les  Bourguignons  s'avan^aient  k  la  rencontre  de  leurs 


THE   BALLADE   IN  PRANCE  131 

"D'ou  venez  vous? — D'ou    Voire,  de  la  cour. 
— Et  qu'y  f aict  on  ?— Qu'y  f aict  on.     Rien  quy  vaille 
— A  brief  parler  quel  est  bniict  de  la  cour? 
Mauvais. — Oy? — Oy  certainement. — 
Aurons  nous  pis? — Oy  certainement. — 
— Comment  eela?     On  en  voit  I'apparence 
— Quy  portera  ee  faix  entierement? 
— Quy? — Voire  quy? — Les  trois  estats  de  France. 

Dont  vient  cecy?    De  quoy  sy  grief  mal  sourd? 

— Dont  voir  dea?    Dictes  le  hardiment. 

— Je  criens,  pensant  qui  tient  I'argent  sy  court. 

Diray-je?     Oy;  dictes  le  baudement. 

Et  quy  sont-ils?     Je  ne  parle  autrement. 

— En  ont-ils  eu? — Si  en  ont  a  puissance! 

— Quy  leur  en  bailie,  sy  tres  abondamment? 

— Quy? — Voire  quy? — Les  trois  estats  de  France. 

Que  diet  Paris?    Est-il  muet  et  sourd? 

N'ose-il  parler? — Nenny,  ne  Parlement. 

— Et  le  Clergie,  le  vous  tient-on  bien  court? 

— Par  vostre  foy,  oy  publiquement 

— Noblesse,  quoy? — Va  moitie  pirement; 

Tout  se  perit,  sans  avoir  esperance. 

— Quy  pent  pourvoir  a  cecy  bonnement? 

— Quy? — ^Voire  quy? — Les  trois  estats  de  France. 

Prince,  quy  veult  leur  donner  allegeance? 

— A  quy? — A  eux?    Je  vous  prie  humblement. 

— De  quoy? — Que  vous  ayez  leur  regne  en  remembrance 

allies  les  Bretons,  ils  travers^rent  Saint-Denis  et  vinrent,  par  la  plaine 
de  Clichy,  jusqu'au  pent  de  Saint-Cloud,  dont  ils  se  rendirent  maitres. 
La  ils  firent  une  assez  longue  halte,  dans  I'attente  que  les  Parisiens 
allaient  leur  ouvrir  leurs  portes;  mais  il  n'en  fut  rien,  car,  au  lieu  de 
capitulation,  ils  ne  re^urent  a  leur  adresse,  qu'un  feuillet  de  papier 
6u  etaient  ecrites  les  deux  ballades  qu'on  va  lire." 


132  ,  THE   BAIiLADB 

— Qu'y  peut  donner  bon  conseil  prestement? 

— Qu^y — Voire  quy?    Les  trois  estats  de  France."^®* 

Naturally  the  rivalry^^^  between  Louis  XI  and  Charles 
the  Bold  found  ballade  expression,  too : 

"  Souffle,  Triton,  en  ta  bucce  argentine ; 
Muse,  en  musant  en  ta  doulce  musette, 
Donne  louange  et  gloire  eelestine 
Au  dieu  Phebus  a  la  barbe  roussette. 
Quant  du  vergier  ou  croist  mainte  noisette, 
Ou  fleurs  de  lys  yssent  par  millions, 
Aceompaigne  de  mes  petitz  lyons, 
Ay  combatu  I'universel  araigne 
Qui  m'a  trouvee  par  ses  rebellions 
Lyon  rampant  en  eroppe  de  montaigne. 

Le  cerf  vollant  qui  nous  fait  cest  actine 

Fut  recueilly  en  nostre  maisonnette, 

Souef  nourry,  sans  poison  serpentine. 

Par  nous  porte  sa  noble  coronette; 

Et  maintenant  nous  point  de  sa  cornette! 

Ce  sont  povres  remuneraeions. 

Mais  Dieu  voyant  mes  operacions. 

M'a  fait  avoir  victoire  en  la  Champaigne, 

164  Le  Roux  de  Lincy,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  354.  A  text  of  this  ballade, 
differing  in  a  few  particulars,  is  to  be  found  in  MS.  f.  1707,  fol.  62'" 
in  the  Bihliothdque  Nationale  and  in  the  Jardin  de  Plaisance,  SodetS 
des  Anciens  Textes  Frangais  (Paris,  1910),  sig.  t  ii. 

165  Le  Roux  de  Lincy,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  369:  ''II  [Chastelain]  la  [the 
ballade  given]  composa  vers  le  milieu  de  I'annee  1467,  au  moment  ou 
les  Liegeois,  pour  la  troisi^me  fois  depuis  trois  ans,  venaient  de  f-e 
soulever  contre  le  due  de  Bourgogne,  k  1 'instigation  du  roi  de  France. 
.  .  .  Le  lyon  rampant  ...  est  une  allusion  au  lion  grimpant  sur  une 
montagne,  qui  faisait  la  devise  du  due  de  Bourgogne.  Le  cerf  volant, 
son  ennemi,  c'cst  le  roi  de  France,  qui  avait  pour  embldme  un  cerf 
ail6." 


THE   BALLADE  IN   FRANCE  138 

Et  veult  que  soit  sur  Francois  mencions 
Lyon  rampant  en  croppe  de  montaigne."**'* 

In  the  Chroniques  de  Louis  XII  by  Jean  D*Auton  are 

several  ballades  dealing  with  the  failure  of  the  King's  cam- 
paign in  Naples  (1502-1504)/^^  Their  general  character 
is  shown  by  the  first  stanza  and  envoy  of  Les  Tresoriers: 

Les  Tresoriers 

"  Qui  vueust  soubmectre  ung  pays  estranger 
Par  faictz  d'armes,  ou  injures  vanger, 
II  doit  avoir  finenees  a  sufiire 
Pour  son  charroy  eonduyre  et  arranger, 
Et  a  ses  gens  tant  donner  a  menger 
Que  nul  par  fain  les  puisse  desconfire; 
Ses  tresoriers  bons  et  loyaulx  esUre, 
Seurs,  diligens,  bien  expertz  et  prop  ices, 
Promptz  a  payer,  gardans  bonnes  polliees ; 
Convoitize  ne  priser  deux  festus, 
D'Autruy  avoir  ne  porter  leurs  pellices: 
Avarice  corrumpt  toutes  vertus. 

Prince,  on  ne  pent  de  plus  s'endommager 
Que  soubmectre  sa  chevance  en  danger 
De  ceulx  qui  sont  par  argent  abbatus; 
Argent  fait  tost  meurs  et  propos  changer, 
Tesmoings  mentir,  arbitres  mal  juger: 
Avarice  corrumpt  toutes  vertus."^®^ 

166  Le  Eoux  de  Lincy,  Opvs  Cit.,  p.  371 ;  the  first  two  stanzas  are 
given.  Gilles  des  Ormes  on  behalf  of  his  patron  replied  in  a  ballade 
with  the  refrain,  "Lyon  couohant  an  pied  de  la  montaigne. " 

167  The  same  subject  is  treated  by  Gringore  in  Les  Folles 
Entreprises. 

168  E.  de  Maulde  La  Clavi^re,  Chroniques  de  Louis  XII  par  Jean 
Auton  (Paris,  1893),  Vol.  Ill,  p.  345.  The  circumstances  re- 
ferred to  center  about  the  battle  of  Garigliano  (1503),  and  are  thus 


134  THE   BALLADE 

In  1520,  the  gorgeous  meeting  of  Francis  I  and  Henry  i 

VIII  on  the  Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold  was  celebrated  in  a  ! 

'ballade  by  Clement  Marot :  i 

"  Au  camp  des  Rois  les  plus  beau  de  ce  monde  -■■ 

Sont  arrivez  trois  riches  estendars:  . 

Amour  tient  Fun  de  couleur  blanche  &i  munde,  ] 

Triumphe  I'autre  avecques  ses  souldars  j 
Vivement  painet  de  couleur  celestine: 
Beaute  apres  en  sa  main  noble,  &  digne 

Porte  le  tiers  tainct  de  vermeille  sorte :  \ 

Ainsi  chascun  richement  se  comporte,  \ 

Et  en  tel  ordre,  &  pompe  primeraine  | 

Sont  venu  veoir  la  Royalle  eohorte  ] 

Amour,  Triumphe,  &  Beaute  souveraine.  ' 

\ 

En  ces  beaux  lieux  tost  que  vol  d'Aronde,  ; 

Vient  celle  Amour  des  Celestines  pars,  ] 

Et  en  apporte  une  vive,  &  claire  unde,  j 
Dont  elle  estainct  les  f ureurs  de  Dieu  Mars : 

Avecques  France,  angleterre  enlumine,  j 

Disant,  il  font  qu'en  ce  Camp  je  domine:  ; 
Puis  a  son  vueil  fait  bon  guet  a  la  porte, 
Pour  erapescher,  que  Discordre  n'apporte 

La  pomme  d'or,  dont  vint  guerre  inhumaine:  I 

Aussi  affin  que  seulement,  en  sorte  1 

Amour,  Triumphe,  &  Beaute  souveraine  j 

Pas  ne  convient,  que  mal  plume  se  fonde  I 

A  rediger  du  triumphe  les  arts,  \ 

Car  de  si  grans  en  hautesse  profonde  j 

N'en  firent  one  les  belliqueurs  Cesars.  ] 

described :  '  *  Mais  il  ne  pardonna  paa  de  longtemps  h  ceux  qui  avaient  ' 

6t6  mel6s  ^  ces  evenements.     II  refusa  de  voir  la  plupart  d'entre  eux  i 

et  les  confina  dans  le  Milanais.    11  poursuivit  en  mSme  temps  quelques  j 

financiers    qui    avaient    prevarique;    I'un    deux    fut   execute."      (E.  1 

Lavisse,  Eistoire  de  France,  Paris,  1903,  Vol.  V,  p.  66).  \ 


THE  BALLADE   IN  PRANCE  186 


Que  diray  plus,  richesses  tant  insigne  ^ 

A  tous  huinains  bien  demonstre  &  designe 

Des  deux  partis  la  puissance  tres-forte. 

Bref,  il  n'est  cueur  qui  ne  se  reconforte 

En  ce  pays,  plus  qu'en  mer  la  seraine, 

De  veoir  regner  (apres  rencune  morte) 

Amour,  Triumphe,  &  Beaute  souveraine 

Envoy 

De  la  beaute  des  hommes  ne  deporte : 
Et  quand  a  celle  aux  Dames,  je  rapporte, 
Qu'en  ce  monceau  laide  seroit  Helaine. 
Parquoy  concludz,  que  ceste,  terre  porte 
Amour,  Triumphe,  &  Beaute  souveraine."^^^ 

Cardinal  Mazarin  was,  as  might  be  expected,  the  object  at 
times  of  congratulation,  at  times  of  execration  in  ballade 
literature.  Voiture,  in  1647,  wrote  a  "ballade  a  Mont- 
seignieur  le  Cardinal  Mazarin  sur  la  prise  de  la  Bassee.'* 
Its  complimentary  character  is  plain  in  the  third  stanza : 

"  Puissant  esprit,  qui  nous  f ortifiez, 
Et  dont  le  soin  nos  ennemis  reprime 
Que  vos  succes  partout  soient  publics. 
Que  votre  los  en  tous  endroicts  s'imprime, 
Et  que  le  chant  dont  mon  ame  s'imprime, 
Se  fasse  ouir  de  Paris  a  Maroc. 
Quand  je  vivrois  aussi  longtemps  qu'Enoc, 
Toujours  dirai  de  fond  de  ma  pensee: 
Seigneurs  flamands,  ce  fut  un  mauvais  troe, 
Pour  Landrecy  de  changer  la  Bassee."^^** 

A  bitter  attack  on  Cardinal  Mazarin  is  embodied  in 
Balade  du  Mazarin  Grand  Joueur  de  Hoc: 


169  CEuvres  de  Clement  Marot  avec  les  ouvrages  de  Jean  Marot  son  J 
Pere  ceux  de  Michel  Marot  son  Fils  Sr  les  Pieces  du  Different  de  Cle-  I 
ment  avec  Frangois  Sagon  (A  la  Haye,  1741),  Vol.  II,  p.  20.  ^ 

170  A.  Ubicini,  (Euvres  de  Voiture  (Paris,  1855),  Vol.  II,  p.  429.  J 


136  THE   BALLADE  J 

! 

"  Enfin  il  en  aura  desia  le  f  orf  ait  clac.  '\ 

Et  le  ieune  frondeur  aussi  f erme  qu'un  roc  i 

Sanglera  la  croupiere  a  ce  joueur  de  hoc  j 

Dont  I'auarice  a  mis  nostre  France  au  bissac,  | 

Les  enquestes  pour  luy  sont  pires  que  le  tic  j 

Toutes  ses  actions  s'obseruent  ric  a  ric,  I 

Et  contre  le  Senat  ses  fourbes  sont  a  sec  \ 

Chaque  iour  il  fait  voir  qu'il  n'a  n'y  sens  ny  sue  | 

Et  moins  de  jugement  qu  I'oyseau  de  S.  luc,  J 

H  ne  peut  esuiter  le  mat  dans  eet  eschec.  j 

'j 
Pour  le  faire  sortir  on  fait  le  triquetrac  i 

II  connille,  il  a  peur,  il  redoute  le  choc  ,i 

II  franchira  pourrant  le  pas  sans  brindestoc, 

Et  passera  bien  tost  nos  riuieres  sans  bac, 

II  craint  certain  arrest  plus  que  venire  d'aspic  ' 

II  craint  I'agent  a  croc,  a  crochets  et  a  pic,  ] 

Et  le  coyon  qu'il  est,  fait  le  salamalec  j 

Au  plus  vil  artisan  comme  il  feroit  au  due  i 

Dans  peu  le  gazetier  prosnera  son  desjuc 

II  ne  peut  esuiter  le  mat  dans  cet  eschec.  ; 

II  a  pour  son  conseil  gens  de  corde  &  de  sac 

Qui  font  cas  de  I'honneur  comme  huguenots  d'un  froc  ^ 

II  vend  Fespicopat  et  des  mitres  fait  troc. 

Car  il  n'en  done  point  sans  quelque  miguemac  i 

Mais  il  ne  sera  plus  desormais  ce  traffic  j 

T/almanach  du  Palais  en  fait  le  pronestic,  j 

Et  qu^on  luy  passera  la  plume  par  le  bee, 

Fust-il  plus  tier  cent  fois  qu^un  Flamand  dans  bolduc  j 

Ou  quVn  ieune  cadet  du  pais  de  Mon  luc,  i 

II  ne  peut  esuiter  le  mat  dans  cet  eschec. 

Envoy  i 

Prince  qui  fis  passer  carriere  au  braue  bee  j 

Et  qui  mis  I'archiduc  en  pitoyable  affroc 

Ce  ministre  ignorant  n'a  que  le  foy  dVn  grec,  j 


THE  BAIiLADE  IN  PRANCE  137 

Mesme  il  te  trahiroit  pour  trois  plumes  de  coc, 
Laisse  la  chastier  &  sa  sequele  auec 
le  suis  dans  I'aduenir  s^auant  comme  vn  enoc, 
II  ne  peut  esuiter  le  mat  dans  cet  eschec."^''^ 

The  Ballade  in  the  Drama 

Sibilet,  a  sixteenth  century  critic,^^*  wrote  in  1548  that 
ballades  and  rondeaux^"^^  were  to  be  found  in  farce,  sotie, 
morality  and  mystery ' '  comme  morceaux  en  fricassee. ' '  His 
statement  is  richly  illustrated  by  the  ballades  in  the  fifteenth 
and  sixteenth  century  mysteries  that  have  come  down  to 
us.^^*  Ballades,  like  the  triolets  more  frequently  employed 
in  the  mysteries,  were  used  as  adornments  of  the  text.  They 
were,  as  the  subject  matter  of  the  mysteries  would  suggest, 
for  the  most  part  prayers  to  the  deity  and  supplications  to 
Mary  for  her  intercession.  Thus,  a  ballade  prayer  in  the 
Mystere  de  Saint e  Barbe  (fifteenth  century)  is  spoken  by 
Origines  and  three  companions : 

171  Ballade  du  Mazarin  Grand  Joueur  de  Hoc  (Paris,  1649)  ;  [on  p. 
117  of  a  volume  of  tracts  in  Columbia  Library,  944.  033,  Zl],  Refer- 
ences to  chess  are  common  in  other  forms  of  mediaeval  literature. 
Chess  has  always  been  a  favorite  source  of  figures  with  poets.  Cf. 
Charles  d 'Orleans's  ballade  beginning:  "  J 'ay  aux  echecs  jou6  devant 
amours"  (D 'Hericault,  Vol.  I,  pp.  76-77) :  Of  this  ballade  M.  Cham- 
pion in  his  Charles  d'Orleans  joueur  d'echecs,  says  (p.  16):  "Dans 
cette  ballade  Charles  d 'Orleans  parle  en  poete  dans  la  langue  du 
joueur.  Elle  resume  les  rapports  du  poete  et  du  joueur:  le  poSte 
transforme,  allegorise  et  raflSne  la  matiere  banale  de  son  habitue! 
passe-temps. ' ' 

172  See  Chapter  III. 

173  Cf.  Ludwig  Miiller,  Das  Bondel  in  den  Franzosischen  MiraTcel- 
spielen  und  Mysterien  des  15  u.  16  Jahrhunderts,  Ausgaben  und  Ab- 
handlungen  XXIV  (Marburg,  1884). 

174  M.  Brandenburg,  Die  Festenstrophengebilde  und  einige  Metrische 
Kunsteleien  des  Mystere  de  Sainte  Barbe  (Greifswald,  1907).  On 
pp.  82-85  of  this  able  dissertation  is  given  a  table  of  the  ballade 
forms  found  in  various  published  and  unpublished  French  mysteries. 


138  THE  BALLADE 


Origines  finit.  > 

"  0  dieu  hault  pere  precieux 
Et  curieux  j 

Du  salut  de  ta  creature,  j 

Toy  qui  es  seul  vietorieux 
Moy  vieieux, 

Je  te  mercy  [e]  d'entente  pure.  j 

Pitie  as  tu  de  la  laidure  | 

Que  ta  facture 

Enduroit  par  mauldit  desroy, 
Et  as  mis  a  desonfiture 

Et  confracture  , 

Les  enemys  de  nostre  loy 

i 

Liepart  j 

Jesus,  filz  du  dieu  vigoreux,  .a 

Non  rigoureux, 

Mais  doulx  en  toute  adversite, 

Nous  qui  estions  douloureux 

Et  langoreux 

As  saulve  par  ton  amitie.  ■ 

Tu  oustas  de  captivite  j 

Et  vilite  j 

Les  enffans  d'Israel  mis  en  foy.  j 

lis  sont  mis  en  mandicite,  i 

Non  respite  ' 

Les  ennemys  de  nostre  loy. 

Ysacar  finit 

Sainct  esp[e]rit  qui  sa  bas  venistes 

Et  si  vous  meistes 

Es  appoustres  par  eharit«,  ■ 

Qui  aujourduy  sans  noz  merites  ! 

Victoire  acquistes, 

Je  vous  mercye  en  verite.  j 

Nous  suymes  hors  d'iniquite,  ^ 

D'austerite,  I 


THE   BALLADE  IN   FRANCE                                  139  " 

j 

\ 

Par  vostre  conduyte  et  arroy.  j 

Huy  sont  mors  et  suppedite  j 

D'audacit^  j 

Les  ennemys  de  nostre  loy.  j 

I 

[Envoi]  j 

Noradin 

0,  Saincte  unie  trinite 

Communite 

De  totalle  bonte  en  foy, 

Meet  en  bonne  credulite  ; 

Par  sainctete 

Les  ennemys  de  nostre  loy !  "^^^  ; 

A  ballade  without  envoy  in  which  the  stanzas  are  simi-  ; 

larly  distributed  among  several  characters  is  to  be  found,  \ 

too,  in  Le  Mystere  de  la  Passion  d'Arnoul  Grehan:  < 

Jaspar  ' 

i 

"  Je  te  salue,  Dieu  du  ciel  glorieux,  j 

Dieu  immortel,  Dieu  sur  tons  vertueux, 

vray  filz  de  Dieu  qui  creas  ciel  et  terre;  j 

Je  te  salus,  rou  par  dessus  les  cieux,  ] 

monarche  seul  du  monde  et  tons  les  lieux  ^ 

que  cueur  humain  pent  penser  ne  enquerre. 

Je  congnois  bien  que  notre  char  humaine  ' 

as  pris  ou  corps  de  la  vierge  puraine  i 

pour  racheter  tes  amis  innocens:  1 

recoy  mon  don,  si  vray  que  tu  le  sens  ' 

offrir  de  cueur,  et  pour  totalle  somme  j 

present  te  fais  d'or,  de  mierre  et  d'encens, 

toy  demonstrant  roy,  Dieu,  et  mortel  homme.  ^ 

i 

175  M.  Brandenburg,  Opus  Cit,  pp.  65-66.  ; 


140  THE  BALLADE 

Melcior 


Je  te  salue,  chere  enffant  gracieux,  • 

tres  noble  filz,  tres  saint  fruit  precieux,  ■ 

des  beaulx  le  chois  ou  plus  beau  ne  fault  querre,  ] 

Je  te  salue  des  doulx  plus  deliteux  i 

le  plus,  des  plus  begnins  le  plus  piteux,  ! 

celeste  pain,  vraye  angulaire  pien-e;  ' 
Parfaicte  amour  par  devant  toy  m^admaine, 

recongnoissant  ta  puissance  haultaine,  J 

et  qu'aux  humains  delivrer  condescens,  ^ 

et  se  je  n*ay  dons  a  toy  bien  decens,  i 
excuse  moy :  je,  qui  ton  serf  me  nomme, 
present  te  fais  d'or,  de  mierre  et  d'encens, 
toy  demonstrant  roy,  Dieu,  et  mortel  homme. 

Baltazar 

Je  te  salue,  roy  du  eiel  plantureux, 
fruit  de  salut,  des  riches  plus  eureux, 
hors  qui  tresor  bien  ne  se  peust  conquerre, 
S'en  biens  mondains  es  me  et  diseteux 
et  dehors  pers  povre  enffant  souffeteux. 

tant  as  en  toy  que  nyl  ne  peust  enquerre;  1 

Car  du  plus  hault  de  I'arche  souveraine 

es  descendu  en  la  vie  mondaine,  i 

juge  et  regent  des  present  et  absens,  | 

et  non  obstant  que  tons  biens  sont  recens.  | 

en  toy,  saulveur,  ne  temps  ne  les  consomme,  | 

present  te  fais  d*or,  de  mierre  et  d^encens,  | 

toy  demonstrant  roy,  Dieu,  et  mortel  homme."^^'  j 

i 

A  ballade  addressed  to  the  Virgin  as  intercessor  occurs  in 
the   fourteenth   century   Mystere   d'une   Jeune  Fille   qui         j 
voulut  s'abandonner  a  peche,  where  it  will  be  seen  that  free 
stanzas  alternate  with  those  of  the  fixed  form :  ' 

178 Paris  et  Raynaud,  Le  MyaUre  de  la  Passion  d'Arnoul  Grehan  I 

(Paris,  1878),  p.  86. 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  141 


Le  Larron 


"  Ha,  doulce  vierge,  en  ce  trespas 
Dur  repas 

De  mort  cruelle  et  douloureuse 
Je  te  requiers:  Ne  me  faulx, 
Ton  compas 

Me  soit  conduitte  glorieuse! 
Ha,  vierge,  en  ceste  mort  honteuse, 
Langoureuse 

En  ce  jour  pour  moy  tres  piteuse 
Prens  de  ma  pouvre  ame  pitie: 
Par  ta  saincte  nativite. 

Le  Bourreau 

C'est  tres  bien  dit  en  verite. 
Or  precede  de  mieulx  en  mieulx ! 
Monte  tu  seras  herite 
Ce  jour  au  royaulme  des  cieulx. 

Le  Larron 

Des  cieulx  requiers  foys  et  soulas, 

Las,  helas, 

Qui  est  la  vraye  vie  heureuse. 

Mon  pouvre  cueur  dolent  et  las 

En  ces  laz 

Requiert  ta  graace  precieuse. 

D(e)  'oultraige  fiere  et  haynause 

Furieusement  furieuse. 
Du  dyable  soyes  preserve: 
Par  ta  saincte  nativite. 

Le  Bourreau 

En  grant  fervenr  de  charity 
Continue  de  bon  couraige; 
Mais  monte  par  humilite 
Des  cieulx  tu  auras  Theritaige. 


142  THE   BAIjLADB 


Le  Larron 


L'heritaige  des  cieulx  tu  as 

Soubz  tes  bras. 

Soit  mon  ame  solacieuse! 

Ha  vierge,  pense  de  mon  cas 

Maulx  a  tas 

Ay  faictz  qui  la  rendent  paoureuse 

Ma  vie  a  este  malheureuse. 

Dont  doubteuse 

Est  ma  fin,  Soues  curieuse 

De  ma  pouvre  debilite 

Par  ta  saincte  nativite! 

Ambition  contencieuse 
Contencion  ambicieuse 
M'ont  de  tons  biens  desberite. 
Secours  en  ceste  mort  honteuse 
Par  ta  saincte  nativite! 

Le  Bourreau 

C'est  son  cas  bien  solicite. 
A  ce  monde  ne  pense  plus. 
Mais  dictz  pour  toute  auctorite 
A  ceste  heure  ton :  in  manus !  "^'^ 

Occasionally  the  ballade  figured  as  a  prologue  to  the 
mystery.  The  prologue,  whatever  its  form  might  be,  was 
spoken  by  the  author,  by  a  member  of  the  company,  or  by 
some  priest  not  a  member  of  the  company.  The  purpose  of 
such  a  prologue  was  to  fix  the  attention  of  the  audience,  to 
give  them  some  notion  of  the  plot,  or  to  express  the  author's 
humility. 

The  prologue  in  the  fifteenth  century  Le  Martire  de  Saint 
Adrien  is  spoken  by  a  priest : 

177  M.  Brandenburg,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  74. 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  143 

Preco 

"  En  Fonneur  de  la  Trinite, 
En  qui  gist  toute  haulte  puissance, 
Vous  prions  qu'en  bonne  unite 
Veuillez  trestous  fere  silence, 
Et  vous  verres  cy  en  presence, 
S'il  plaist  au  roy  celestien 
Jouer,  par  belle  demonstrance, 
Le  martire  saint  Adrien. 

Duquel  la  vie  en  verite 

Vous  dira,  em  briefve  substance, 

Le  prescheur,  par  auctorite 

Qu'il  a  de  divine  science. 

Or  luy  vueilliez  done  audience 

Trestous  prester  par  bon  raoyen, 

Et  escouter  en  reverance 

Le  martire  saint  Adrien. 

Car  en  ginefve  infirmite 
A  mainte  gens  donne  alegence; 
Pour  ce  par  grant  sollenite 
En  voulons  fere  remembrance. 
Sy  vous  prions  par  alienee 
Qu'en  ce  lieu  nous  faisiez  ce  bien 
De  vouloir  oyr  par  plaisance 
Le  martire  saint  Adrien. 

Prince,  garde  de  toute  oultrance 
Ceulx  et  celles  qu'entendront  bien 
Et  mectront  en  leur  souvenance 
Le  matire  Saint  Adrien.''^^^ 

Another  ballade  prologue  is  spoken  by  an  actor  at  the 
opening  of  the  mystery  of  Notre  Dame  de  Puy  by  Claude 
Doleson :"« 

i  178  D.  H.  Carnahan,  The  Prologue  in  the  Old  French  and  Provengal 

d  Mystery  (New  Haven,  1905),  pp.  124-125. 

179  Sixteenth  century. 


144  THE  BALLADE 

L'Acteur 
"  Puisque  f  aict  avons  narration 
Des  faictz  dignes  de  recordation 
Ces  deux  jours  dernierement  passez, 
Out  fut  f aict  I'ediffication 
De  ceste  eglise  de  devotion, 
Je  croy  qu'il  vous  en  souvient  assez. 
Mais  plus  avant  il  nous  fault  proceder, 
Pour  ces  beaulx  faictz  dignement  recorder, 
Et  ppur  reciter,  cy  a  brief  langaige, 
De  toy,  tres-saincte  Vierge  Marie, 
Comment  fut,  au  Puy,  sans  qu'on  varie, 
Uadvenement  de  ton  glorieux  ymaige. 

Soyons  trestous  en  consolation, 
Laissons  courroux  et  desolation, 
Pensons  aux  biens  que  Dieu  nous  a  laissez, 
Regardons  sa  grande  dilection. 
En  luy  rendant  de  graces  actions, 
II  est  raison  tres-bien  le  cognoissez. 
Recognoissons  aussi,  sans  plus  tarder, 
De  Marie,  et  vueillons  regarder 
Et  entendre  de  tout  notre  couraige. 
Prestons  y  doulcement  tons  I'ouye, 
Ce  faisant  orrons  tons  je  vous  afiie. 
L'advenement  de  ton  glorieux  ymaige. 

Trestous  nous  faisons  jubilation 
A  ton  ymaige,  Fille  de  Sion, 
Et  n^en  voulons  nullement  faire  ces, 
Car  voyons  que  ta  representacion 
Nous  a  donne  illumination 
En  ce  pais,  Vierge,  tu  bien  le  s^ais; 
Et  qui,  en  brief,  nous  vouldroit  demander. 
Qui  tant  de  maulx  nous  a  faict  evader 
Le  temps  jadis  que  nous  portoient  dommaige? 
On  diroit  sans  qu'on  y  contredire 
Que  I'a  faict  et  on  le  certiffie; 
L'advenement  de  ton  glorieux  ymaige. 


THE   BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  145 

Princesse,  vueilles  nous  contregarder 
De  ton  povoir,  aussi  interceder 
Pour  tons  pecheurs  envers  le  Juge-mage 
Ainsi  tenus  serons-nous,  quoy  qu'on  die, 
De  louer  toy  et  en  chacune  partie 
L^advenement  de  ton  glorieux  ymaige."^^** 

Another  noteworthy  ballade  prologue,  a  fifteenth  century 
piece  of  **  diablerie, '  ^  the  text  of  which  is  not  printed,  in- 
troduces St.  Martin  by  Andre  de  la  Vigne,  and  is  spoken 
by  Lucifer.     The  first  three  lines  are: 

"  Ballade  de  la  puissance  infemalle. 
Au  Zodiaque  du  tenebreux  Pluto, 
Et  Megera,  Theziphon,  Aletho,"i8i 

The  Mistere  de  Viet  Testament  alone  contains  seventeen 
ballades.  Of  considerable  dramatic  power  is  that  spoken 
by  Vesca  in  Du  Jugement  de  Salomon: 

Vesea 

"Haa,  mon  enfant!  Helas!  comment? 
Ne  te  pourray  je  secourir? 
Je  vous  erie  mercy  humblement! 
VouUez  vous  inhumainement 
Faire  ceste  innoseent  mourrir? 
Las!  ne  le  faictes  pas  perir, 
Mais  a  ceste  femme  mauldicte 
Le  delivrez  pour  le  nourrir; 


Quant  est  de  ma  part,  je  luy  quitte.  | 

J^ayme  mieulx  qu'elle  le  nourrisse  \ 

Qu'il  soit  tue  devant  mes  yeulx.     ,  ] 

Helas!  que  mourrir  je  le  veisse,  ] 

Mon  doulx  enfant?  J'aymeroie  mieulx  ' 

180  D.  H.  Camahan,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  121-122. 

181  L.  Petit  de  JuUeville,  Les  Mysteres  (Paris,  1880),  p.  539. 

11  i 


146  THE  BALLADE  , 

Qu'on  me  menast  ainst,  m'ait  Dieux, 

Bnisler  comme  f emme  interdicte ! 

Baillez  luy  enfant  preeieux;  ] 

Quant  est  de  ma  part,  je  luy  quitte.  \ 

A  Dieu,  mon  beau  filz  triumphant!  1 
Pour  toy  je  seuffre  grant  mallaise, 

Mon  soulas,  mon  bien,  mon  enfant!  ' 

II  est  force  que  je  te  baise.  ■ 

Sire!  je  vous  prie  qu'il  vous  plaise  ' 

Garder  qu'on  ne  le  decapite,  i 

Et  qu'el  en  face  a  son  bel  aise;  ! 

Quant  est.de  ma  part,  je  luy  quitte!  ■ 

Prince,  saichez  que  ne  mourray  i 

Se  sur  luy  on  faict  tel  poursuyte; 

A  Achilla  le  lesseray : 

Quant  est  de  ma  part,  je  luy  quitte !  "^^-  ! 

Two  hallades  of  farewell  and  a  letter  hallade  occur  in  Le         I 
Mystere  de  Saint  Louis  Roi  de  France.     The  ballade  of         ! 
farewell  here  reprinted  is  spoken  by  **  Chevaliers  de  la 
Marche"  at  Louis's  departure  for  Egypt: 

Le  ij®  Chevalier  de  la  Marche 

"  Vray  Dieu,  de  qui  a  voir  est  desiree  ' 

Des  sainz  anges  ta  face  glorieuse,  j 

Vois  la  painne  rude,  desmesuree. 
Que  nous  souffrons  pour  ta  loy  gracieuse; 
Confortes-nous  en  la  painne  angoisseuse  i 

Et  auz  tourmens  angoisseuse  et  divers  j 

Que  nous  livre  ceste  gent  oultrageuse  | 

Par  sa  faulse  mauvaistie  envieuse,  i 

Qui  veut  ta  f  oy  f aire  aler  a  renvers ; 
Tire  nous  amez  en  la  gloire  joyeuse, 
Fais-nous  victeurs  contre  ces  gens  pervers.  j 

182  James  de  Eothschild,   Le  Mistcre  de   Viel   Testament    (Paris,  j 

1891),  Vol.  IV,  p.  327.  J 


THE  BALLADE   IN   FRANCE  147 

Le  iij®  Chevalier  de  la  Marche 

Sire,  qui  hors  la  charte  egipeienne 

Mis  hors  Joseph,  ton  leal  serviteur, 

Fais  nous  confort  contre  la  gent  payenne; 

Nous  t'en  prions,  souverain  Redempteur. 

Devant  nous  est  nostre  persequteur. 

Qui  nous  griefve  par  ses  tiranz  adverz. 

Par  Fennoit  du  faulz  deable  seducteur. 

Qui  est  leur  chef,  leur  prince,  leur  ducteur.    * 

Cely  leur  monstre  de  ta  foy  le  renvers: 

Si  te  prions,  souverain  Plasmateur, 

Fais-nous  vieteurs  contre  ces  gens  pervers. 

Le  iiij®  Chevalier  de  la  Marche 

Visite-nous,  souverain  Roy  du  ciel, 
Delivre-nous  de  ceste  gente  felonne. 
Tu  qui  sauvez  le  prophette  Daniel, 
De  lions  fierz  sa  tressainte  personne, 
Delivre-nous,  de  cy,  sire,  et  nous  donne 
Qu^en  ton  saint  ciel  puissent  estre  convers 
Nos  esperis,  et  ayent  la  couronne 
De  martire,  qui  tant  est  noble  et  bonne, 
Et  d'immortal  vestement  lez  convers; 
Et  pour  trouver  du  ciel  la  droite  bonne, 
Fais-nous  vieteurs  contre  ces  gens  pervers. 

Le  Mareschal  de  Cypre. 

Prince  du  ciel,  qui  point  ne  relinquis 
Ceulz  qui  tu  as  par  ton  saint  sane  acquis, 
Fais-nous  du  ciel  les  buys  plaisans  ouvers; 
Et  comme  nous  t'avons  trestous  requis, 
Fais  nous  vieteurs  contre  ces  gens  pervers."^^^ 

The  letter  ballade  comes  to  Marguerite  from  Louis  through 
the   Seigneur  de  Nesle.     In  the  text  here  followed,  the 

183  Franeisque  Michel,  Le  Mystere  de  Saint  Loys,  Boi  de  France 
(Westminster,  1895),  pp.  243-244. 


148  THE   BALLADE 

'j 
I 

refrain  is  nowhere  written  out  and  is  omitted  entirely  after         ' 
the  first  stanza.    The  whole  refrain  runs :  1 

"  Que  pour  prison  ne  maladie 
Ne  vous  peut  mon.cueur  oblier.^^*  j 

Marguerite  j 

"Helas!  que  j'en  oye  la  lecture:  i 

Je  suis  de  I'ouir  envieuse.  j 

[Le  seigneur  de  Nesle  lit  la  cedule.] 

"A  ma  compagne  et  vraye  espeuse,  ' 

Marguerite,  et  ehere  amye,  i 

Salut.    Ne  soyez  soucieuse 
De  moy,  dame,  je  vous  emprie; 

Car  pour  certain  je  vous  affye  I 

Qu'a  vous  sens  sy  mon  cuer  lier,  I 

Que  pour  prise  ne  maladie  J 

Ne  vous  peut  mon  cuer  oblier.  i 

Ne  prenez  en  vous  deseonfort  .'] 

Qui  tons  cueurs  a  pye  ralie ;  | 

Car  que[elque]   paine  qui  me  lie, 

Par  escript  vous  faiz  publier:  ' 

Pour  prison    |  „ 
Ne  vous  peut  ]      '  > 

Brefment  je  vous  iray  revoir,  ! 

N'en  doubtez  pas,  ma  chere  amye;  ■ 

Par  escript  le  vous  fais  sgavoir, 

Affin  que  plus  ne  vous  ennuye.  ' 

Faictez  joye,  ne  vous  courcez  mye, 

Car  je  dis  de  cuer  tr^s-eutier:  j 

Pour  prison    1^  j 

Ne  vous  peut  (  ^  j 

Princesse,  h  chere  tr^s-lie  I 

Je  dis  pour  vous  solaeier:  1 

Pour  prison    1  -  ! 

Ne  vous  peut  j      *  ; 

184  A.  Brandenburg,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  91.  ^ 


THE  BALLADE  IN   FRANCE                                 149  , 

Le  tout  vostre  espoux  sans  nul  sy,  ^ 

Loys,  roy  frangois  de  Poissy."^®*  J 

A  double  ballade  of  the  metrical  variety  known  as  **bal- 

laide  fatrisee'^^^^  is  to  be  found  in  Sainct  Didier:  j 


Le  Bailly 

"Martir  de  grant  auctorite 
Qui  jadis  souffris  passion 
Par  I'inique  perversite 
De  Croscus,  plain  d'infeetion, 
Toute  la  congregacion 
Qui  en  ton  service  se  fonde, 
Preserve  de  la  morte  seconde!^^'' 

Le  Premier  Bourgeoys 

Preserve  de  la  morte  seconde 
Les  devotz  qui  te  font  honneur, 
Et  s'il  y  a  nul  errabonde, 
Fay  que  toute  grace  y  habonde 
Pour  complaire  au  doulx  Createur, 
Tu  es  tousiours  notre  Pasteur, 
Toy  qui  es  &  qui  as  este 
Martir  de  grant  auctorite. 

Le  Second  Bourgeoys 

Martir  de  grant  auctorite, 
Par  ta  glorification, 
Veul  maintenir  la  cite 
De  Lengres  en  prosperite 
Sans  quelque  tribulacion, 
Et  ceulx  qui  ont  devocion 

185  F.  Michel,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  224. 

186  Cf.  Molinet's  theory  in  Chapter  III  below. 

18T  A  line  is  missing  in  this  stanza.  Whereas  there  are  three  stanzas 
containing  the  refrain  of  the  first  stanza,  there  are  only  two  that  have 
the  other  refrain. 


150  THE   BALLADE 

Devant  la  chasse  pure  &  monde 
Preserve  de  la  mort  seconde! 

Le  Tiers  Bourgeoys. 

Preserve  de  la  mort  seconde 
Nous  qui  te  servons  de  bon  cueur, 
Car  I'ennemy  tres  furibonde 
Tousiours  est  prest  et  sitibonde 
Pour  nous  bouter  en  quelque  erreur, 
Garder  nous  peulx  de  cest  horreur, 
Toy  qui  est  tousiours  repute, 
Martir  de  grant  auctorite ! 

Le  Quart  Bourgeoys 

Martir  de  grant  auctorite 
Maintiens  soubz  ta  protection 
Ta  noble  confraternite, 
Qui  est  foudee  en  charite, 
En  amour  &  dilection 
Tous  ceulx  qui  ont  affliction 
D^y  laisser  des  biens  de  ce  monde, 
Preserve  de  la  mort  seconde !  ''^*® 

In  several  of  the  mysteries,  there  are  little  groups  of  two 
or  three  ballades  connected  by  various  line  and  rime  identi- 
ties. In  the  collection  of  mysteries  known  as  Viel  Testa- 
ment, for  example,  De  Hestre,  one  of  the  number,  contains 
two  ballades,  in  succession,  the  rime  of  the  refrain  of  the 
first  being  taken  up  by  the  first  line  of  the  second.  The  first 
has  the  added  peculiarity  of  using  the  refrain  as  the  initial 
line  of  stanzas  and  envoy.    To  indicate  the  effect,  the  envoy 

188  J.  Carnandet,  La  Vie  et  Passion  de  Manseigneur  Sain<;t  BidieVy 
Martir  et  Evesque  de  Lengres  p.  Maistre  Guillaume  Flamang  (Paris, 
1855),  pp.  43&-437.  This  mystery  belongs  to  the  fifteenth  century. 
Anciens  Textes  Frangais  (Paris,  1891),  Vol.  VI,  p.  48. 


THE  BALLADE  IN  FRANCE  151 

of  the  first  ballade  and  the  first  stanza  of  the  second  are 
given  here : 

"  Humble  de  cueur,  parf aicte  obeissance 
Assuaire  roy  d'Inde  de  valleur, 
Ton  aneelle  te  rent  congru  honneur, 
Humble  de  cueur,  parfaiete  obeissance."^^® 

"  Humilite  voyant  en  apparence 
A  toy,  Hester,  ton  regart  me  complest, 
En  contraire  de  I'inobedience 
De  Vastie,  qui  trop  si  me  desplaist ; 
Pour  tant  te  donne  cecy,  car  11  me  plaist. 
Le  dyademe,  couronne  a  humble  femme, 
Sur  ton  chef  mes,  et  en  grace  parf  ait 
Trosne  d'honneur  et  chef  de  mon  reame."^^® 

According  to  Petit  de  Julleville,  these  lyric  passages  in 
the  mysteries  were,  in  general,  sung,  or,  at  any  rate,  were 
declaimed  to  the  accompaniment  of  music.^^*'  In  view  of  the 
intimate  connection  of  the  ballade  formula  with  the  puy^ 
another  circumstance  in  the  presentation  of  the  mysteries 
is  here  worth  noting :  namely,  the  accepted  fact  that,  in  the 
fourteenth  century,  the  Miracles  de  Nostre  Dame  were 
acted  at  some  puy,^^^  the  location  of  which  has  not  been  de- 
termined. The  presence  in  these  Miracles  of  the  serventoys 
couronnes  and  estrives^^^  bears  testimony  to  this  situation. 
The  puys  had  succeeded  the  church  in  the  exhibition  of 
religious  drama,  and,  in  turn,  the  puys  (not  all  of  which 

189  James  de  Rothschild,  Le  Mistere  de  Viel  Testament,  SociSte  des 
Anciens  Textes  Frangais  (Paris,  1891),  vol.  VI,  p.  48. 

190  L.  Petit  de  Julleville,  Les  Mysteres  (Paris,  1880),  Vol.  I,  p.  290. 

191  L.  Petit  de  Julleville,  Les  Comediens  en  France  au  Moyen  Age 
(Paris,  1885),  p.  49. 

192  Cf .  Gaston  Paris  and  U.  Robert :  Miracles  de  Nostre  Dame  par 
Personnages   (Paris,  1876) ;  see  also  Appendix  on  the  serventois. 


152  THE  BALLADE 

necessarily  were  engaged  in  producing  drama)  were  suc- 
ceeded by  the  various  "Confreries  de  la  Passion.''  It  is 
safe  to  assume  that  the  religious  drama  of  France  owes  to 
its  connection  with  the  puy  the  interpolation  of  the 
ballade}^'' 

Conclusion 

The  ballades  included  in  the  foregoing  pages  range  in 
date  from  the  fourteenth  century  to  the  seventeenth.  By 
far  the  greater  number  of  them  are  insignificant  as  litera- 
ture. They  exhibit  the  sort  of  ingenuity  that  is  inconsistent 
with  real  poetry.  The  tricks  of  the  ballade  writers,  their 
acrostics,  their  word  plays,  made  the  form  a  kind  of  intel- 
lectual game.  Because  of  this  trifling,  probably,  there  are 
few  ballades  that  strike  a  modern  reader  as  worth  while. 
The  satirical  ones  are  remarkable  for  bold  personalities, 
but  such  wit  is  not  likely  to  appeal  to  a  healthy  sense  of 
humor  nowadays.  Francois  Villon  alone  in  these  three  cen- 
turies produced  ballades,  one  is  tempted  to  say  a  ballade, 
of  great  beauty. 

These  poems  have  for  us,  therefore,  a  social  rather  than  a 
literary  interest.  In  them  for  three  hundred  years  the 
dominant  ideas  of  medieval  society  were  perpetuated. 
The  current  conceptions  of  love,  death,  and  religion,  the 
hand-to-mouth  wisdom  of  proverbs,  satire  mordant  and 
mild,  the  chronicle  of  marching  events,  aristocratic  politics, 
— all  these  'subjects  were  accepted  as  within  the  proper 

^^^  Ballades  appear  to  be  more  numerous  in  the  mysteries  that  sur- 
vive than  in  other  early  drama.  But  we  may  take  Sibilet's  word  for 
it  that  the  form  was  not  uncommon  in  farces  and  in  soties.  La 
Basoche  at  Toulouse,  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  pro- 
duced, for  example,  a  Sotise  a  Iluit  Personnaiges,  by  the  Andr6  de 
la  Vigne  mentioned  above,  in  which  there  were  two  ballades.  See  E. 
Picot,  Recucil  General  des  Soties  (Paris,  1904),  Vol.  II,  pp.  21,  102. 


THE   BALLADE  IN   FRANCE  153 

scope  of  the  ballade.  Of  particular  interest,  too,  is  its  pres- 
ence in  the  religious  drama.  So  many  of  the  mysteries  are 
connected  with  puys  that  it  is  not  surprising  to  find  the 
ballade,  itself  in  part  a  product  of  the  puy,  figuring  in  a 
number  of  the  sacred  plays.^^*  The  ballade  was  thus  con- 
sidered equally  appropriate  for  the  expression  of  sacred  or 
profane  emotions. 

The  body  of  critical  theory  in  regard  to  the  ballade^^^ 
reflects,  as  we  shall  see,  the  fluctuating  esteem  in  which  the 
form  was  held.  The  slighting  references  to  it  that  began 
with  du  Bellay  were  a  sure  indication  of  its  declining 
vogue.  The  ballade  had  become  superanniMi:ed,  too,  long 
before  the  slurs  of  Moliere's  Vadius."*^  It^as  to  be  re- 
vived in  the  nineteenth  century,  but  there  was  no  attempt 
then  made  to  restore  to  this  most  popular  of  all  French 
artificial  verse  forms  the  importance  w-hich  it  had  enjoyed 
in  the  Middle  Ages.  The  French  ballade  of  the  present 
day  is  always,  in  contrast  to  the  earlier  ballade  in  the  same 
language,  a  poetic  trifle,  rarely  concerned  with  the  solem- 
nities of  life. 

19*  As  a  matter  of  fact,  triolets  and  rondeaux  are  quite  as  common 
as  hallades  in  the  sacred  drama. 

195  Reprinted  in  the  following  chapter. 

i9«The  date  of  Les  Femmes  Savantes  is  1672. 


CHAPTER   III 

THE  THEORY  OF  THE  BALLADE  FROM  DESCHAMPS  TO 
BOILEAU 

The  ballade,  with  all  its  infinite  variety,  came  to  be  neg- 
lected even  in  France,  and  its  decline  from  favor  was,  as  we 
have  seen,  as  well  marked  and  definite  as  its  enormous  popu- 
larity had  been.  Naturally,  the  vogue  of  the  ballade  is  re- 
flected in  theirhetorico'-poetical  treatises  of  which  the  poets 
and  critics  of  France  were  so  prolific  in  the  fifteenth  and 
sixteenth  centuries.  These  treatises  not  only  recorded  the 
progress  of  the  form  and  the  practice  of  the  poets  who  had 
used  it,  but  in  some  cases  suggested  elaborate  innovations 
or  novel  complications  of  a  type  already  sufficiently  fixed 
and  intricate.  The  handbooks  of  poetics  that  multiplied  in 
these  years  are  very  generally  looked  upon  as  a  symptom  of 
decadence.  But,  in  the  case  Of  the  ballade,  it  must  be 
understood  that  the  refinements  and  the  intricacies  sug- 
gested by  pedants  were  not  necessarily  accepted  generally 
by  the  poets.  Poetasters  early  distorted  the  form  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  prescriptions  of  theorists;  but  Villon, 
a  man  of  some  education,  writing  after  at  least  four  of 
them  had  appeared,  produced  the  most  beautiful  ballades 
in  literature. 

Deschamps's  L'Art  de  Dictier  (1392)  contains  the 
earliest  theoretical  discussion  of  the  ballade  known  to  me.^ 

1  But  the  Provencal  Dansa  is  defined  in  the  Leys  d  'Amors,  Vol.  I, 
pp.  341-343,  and  the  Leys  d 'Amors  was  first  promulgated  in  1356. 
(See  H.  F.  Gatien-Arnoult,  Monumens  de  la  Littirature  Bomane, 
Paris-Toulouse,  1841-9.)     Cf.  Chapter  I,  above. 

154 


THEORY  OF   THE  BALLADE  155  j 

Its  neglect  in  France  followed  the  invasion  of  ideas  from 
Kenaissance  Italy.     Thus  Boileau's  passing  reference  in  his 
Art  Poetique    (1675),   shows  how  lightly  the   form  had        i 
come  to  be  held  at  the  end  of  the  sixteenth  century.    The 
casual  mention  of  the  hallade  by  this  critic  indicates  the 
verdict  of  the  French  classical  age  in  regard  to  this  form.        ' 
The  bibliography  below  aims  to  include  all  treatises  be- 
tween these  two  dates  that  dealt  at  all  with  the  theory  of 
the  ballade.     These  treatises,  as  we  have  noted,  not  only        ] 
codified  usage  but  invented  new  arrangements  and  thereby        ; 
affected  current  hallade  literature,  for  the  formal  char-        i 
acter  of  the  ballade  offered  a  tempting  field  to  the  char-  \^ 
acteristic  ingenuity  of  the  versifier  of  the  late  Middle  Ages,  y 
And,  whereas  the  poet's  interest  in  an  idea  won  the  day  in  \ 
many  cases,  it  is  quite  true  that  substance  was  often  sacri-y    \ 
ficed  to  elaborate  form.     The  complications  suggested  by       ] 
the  rhetoricians,  and  the  ballades  of  their  contemporaries       ] 
embodying  these  strange  rhetorical  variations,   are  inex-        ^ 
tricably  confused  as  cause  and  effect  in  the  history  of  the        \ 
French  ballade  in  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries.  ^ 

I.    Bibliography  | 

Eustache  Deschamps:  L'Art  de  Dictier,  1392. 

Jacques  Legrand :  Des  Rimes,  before  1405.- 

Anonymous :  Les  Regies  de  la  Seconde  Rhetorique,  1411-  ! 

1432.3  \ 

Baudet  Herenc :  Le  Doctrinal  de  la  Seconde  Rhetorique,  j 

1432.^  i 

2  E.  Langlois,  Becueil  B  'Arts  de  Seconde  Rhetorique,  Collection  \ 
de  Documents  Inedits  sur  VHistoire  de  France  (Paris,  1902),  pp.  1-10.  '] 
For  date  given,  cf.  p.  xvi. 

3  Ibid.,  Opus  at.,  pp.  11-103.  ! 
*  Ibid.,  Opus  at.,  pp.  104-198.                                                                         ] 


166  THE   BALLADE 

Anonymous:  Traite  de  L^Art  de  Bhetorique,  1433-66.'* 
Jean  Molinet:  L'Art  de  Rhetorique,  1493.^ 
L'Infortune:  L'Instructif  de  Seconde  Bhetoricque,  about 
1500.^ 

5  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  199-213. 

6  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  214-252. 

7  Le  Jardin  de  Plaisance  et  Fleur  de  Ehetoricque  contains  this  trea- 
tise. Le  Jardin  was  printed  by  Antoine  Verard  twice  in  the  first  five 
years  of  the  sixteenth  century.  (See  John  McFarlane,  Antoine  Verard, 
Illustrated  Monographs,  issued  by  the  Bibliographical  Society,  No. 
VII,  London,  1900.  McFarlane  notes  two  editions  by  Verard:  item 
141,  a  copy  of  Le  Jardin,  McFarlane  places  among  the  books  printed 
by  Verard  between  1500-1503.  This  edition  contains  a  large  number 
of  cuts  from  Verard 's  Terence,  printed  about  1500.  McFarlane  gives 
the  Bihliotheque  Nationale  number  of  this  earlier  edition  as  Res.  Ye. 
168.  He  also  records  a  later  edition,  item  165,  printed  by  Verard 
probably  about  1504.  A  known  copy  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the 
British  Museum,  designated  as  C.  6.  b.  8).  Viollet-le-Duc  in  his  Cata- 
logue des  Livres  Composant  sa  Bibliotheque  Poetique,  Paris,  1843, 
describes  the  copy  of  Le  Jardin  belonging  to  him.  His  copy  was 
printed  "a  Lyon"  and  is  undated.  He  knows  of  another  edition  (p. 
90)  dated  1547.  He  comments  on  the  manual  as  follows:  ''L'auteur 
de  ce  livre  rare  n'est  connu  que  sous  le  nom  qu'il  se  donne  lui-meme 
de  l'Infortun6.  Les  auteurs  que  I'ont  suivi,  et  qui  I'ont  souvent  cite, 
ne  lui  donnent  pas  d 'autre  nom:  il  vivait  sous  Louis  XI,  puisqu'il 
parle  de  1 'institution  recente  de  I'Ordre  de  Saint-Michel  (1469),  et 
Charles  VIII—"  and  further: 

"Les  bibliographes  qui  ont  rendre  compte  de  ce  livre,  peut-etre 
sans  1 'avoir  lu,  I'ont  consid6r6  comme  un  recueil  de  plusiers  pieces 
contenant  d'abord  un  art  poetique,  et  ensuite  des  pieces  detacheea, 
sans  suite,  ou  plutot  sans  rapport  entre  elles ;  mais  ils  n  'ont  sans  doute 
pas  remarque  que  l'Infortun6  en  commenqant  sa  seconde  rhetorique, 
Diffinito,  primum  Capitulum,  car  tons  ses  titres  sont  en  latin,  aprSs 
avoir  indique  qu'il  va  traiter  des  vices  de  la  composition,  de  I'emploi 
des  figures  ou  tropes,  de  la  quantite  des  vers,  de  la  rime,  des  diverses 
sortes  de  poemes,  des  moralites,  des  mystSres,  des  romans  en  vers, 
etc.;  donne  1 'example  en  meme  temps  que  le  pr6cepte,  c'est  -^-dire 
que  d'abord  les  regies  du  rondeau  sont  expliqu6es  par  un  rondeau. 
II  en  est  de  meme  de  la  ballade.  ...  II  cite  le  nom  des  auteurs  qui 


THEORY   OP   THE  BALLADE  157 

Anonymous:  Traite  de  Ehetonque,^  1490 ( ?)  f  1500 ( ?).^« 
Pierre  Fabri:  Le  Grant  et  Vraie  Art  de  Pleine  Rheto- 

rique,  1521." 
Anonymous:  L'Art  et  Science  de  BKetorique  Vulgaire, 

1524-1525.12 
Gratien  du  Pont :  Art  et  Science  de  BKetorique  Metrifiee, 

1539. 
Thomas  Sibilet :  Art  Poetique  Frangoise,  1548." 

se  sont  distingues  dans  chacuns  de  ces  genres  de  composition,  Arnould 
Greban,  Alain  Chartier,  Christine  (de  Pisan),  etc."  (p.  90).  Viollet- 
le-Duc  also  notes  the  contents  of  the  rest  of  the  book,  mentions  half-a- 
dozen  poems  or  more  by  name  and  calls  attention  to  a  large  number 
of  ballades  and  rondeaus.  E.  Stengel  in  Kritische  Jahresbericht  iiber 
die  Fortschritte  der  Bomanischen  Philologie,  I,  p.  277:  "Der  kongl. 
Bibl.  in  Dresden  eine  undatirte  Ausgabe  besitzt.'^  In  1911,  a 
facsimile  of  Verard's  first  edition  was  issued  by  the  Societe  des 
Anciens  Textes  Frangais,  on  p.  ccvi  (sig.  Uii)  of  which  occurs  a  date: 
mil  quatre  eens  einquante  neuf  en  auril  que  Ion  voit  la  fleur. 

8  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  253-264.  This  treatise  is  also  printed  in 
A.  de  Montaiglon's  Becueil  de  Poesies  Frangaises  des  XV e  et  XV le 
Siecles  (Paris,  1855-1858),  III,  pp.  118  ff.  Langlois  says  of  Mon- 
taiglon's reprint,  *'une  reedition  faite  d'apres  la  precedente  [a  Gothic 
edition  printed  at  Lyons  about  1500]  avec  quelques  corrections  sans 
importance  mais  generalment  malheureuses. ' ' 

9  Marie  Pellechet,  Catalogue  des  Incunables  des  Bibliotheques 
Publiques  de  France  (Paris,  1897),  I,  1376,  suggests  the  date  1490 
tentatively. 

10  Brunet,  Manuel  du  Libraire  (Paris,  1861),  I,  513,  notes  a  Gothic 
edition  of  about  1500  printed  at  Lyons. 

11 H.  Zschalig:  Die  Verslehren  von  Fabri,  du  Pont  und  Sibilet 
(Leipzig,  1884),  p.  20,  gives  the  first  edition  as  printed  at  Rouen 
in  1521.  There  is  a  copy  in  the  Harvard  Library  printed  at  Lyons 
in  1536.  The  latest  edition  is  that  of  Heron  printed  at  Rouen,  1889- 
1890,  for  the  Societe  des  Bibliophiles  Normands. 

12  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  265^26. 

13  Extensive  extracts  from  Sibilet  were  printed  in  Charles  Asseli- 
neau,  Livre  des  Ballades  (Paris,  1876),  Appendix.  Gaiffe  has  a 
reprint  in  preparation. 


158  THE  BALLADE 

Joachim  du  Bellay :  Deffense  et  Illustration  de  la  Langue 

Frangoise,  1549.^* 
Barthelemy  Aneau :  Le  Quintil  Horatian,  1550.^^ 
Guillaume  des  Autelz :  Bepliques  aux  Furieuses  Defenses 

de  Louis  Meigret,  1550. 
Jacques  Pelletier:  L^Art  Poetique,  1555. 
Etienne  Pasquier:  Becherches  de  la  France,  1560/^  Bk. 

VII,  Chap.  V. 
Francois  de  Pierre  Delaudun  Daigaliers:  L'Art  Poetique, 

1598. 
Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye:   L^Art  Poetique  Frangois, 

1605." 
Le  Sieur  de  Deimier:  L'Academie  de  VArt  Poetique, 

1610. 
Louys  du  Gardin:  Les  Premieres  Adresses  du  Chemin 

de  Parnasse,  1620.^^ 

14  Ed.  by  Henri  Chamard  (Paris,  1904). 

15  Brunet  gives  1551  for  the  first  edition,  but  there  is  no  copy  in 
existence.  Henri  Chamard,  La  Date  et  L  'Auteur  du  Quintil  Horatian, 
Eevue  d'Histoire  Litt^raire  de  la  France  (15  Jan.  1898),  dates  the 
Quintil,  p.  58,  in  1550.  The  Quintil  was  joined  to  the  Art  Poetique 
of  Sibilet  in  1555  and  was  never  after  separated.  Found  in  con- 
venient form  in  Chamard 's  edition  of  Du  Bellay 's  Deffense. 

16  The  Harvard  Library  copy  was  printed  in  Amsterdam  in  1723. 
"^"^  Jean  Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye,  L'Art  Poetique,  par  F.  Pelissier 

(Paris,  1885). 

18  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  and  cf.  Eiicktaschel,  Einige  Arts  Poetiques 
aus  der  Zeit  Bonsard's  u.  Malheries  (London,  1899).  Both  give  ex- 
tracts from  du  Gardin.  On  p.  vi,  note  2,  Langlois  says  of  the  work: 
"Les  exemplaires  en  sont  tr^s  rares.  J 'en  possSde  un  fort  beau, 
ayant  appartenue  h  Viollct  le-Dnc,  .  .  .  c  *es:t  le  seul  connu  de  Brunet 
(Manuel  II,  865) ;  un  autre,  en  mauvais  6tat,  se  trouve  h  la  biblio- 
thfique  de  1 'Arsenal  (BL  736),  c'est  qelui  qu'a  connu  M.  Eiicktaschel; 
un  troisi^me  appartient  k  la  bibliothSque  Pauline  de  Munster  (cit6 
par  M.  Stengel  dans  Kritischer  Johreshericht  iibcr  die  Fortschritte 
der  Bomanischen  Philologie,  I,  pp.  277).  Stengel  in  Kritische  Johres- 
hericht fiir  Bomanische  Philologie,  I,  276,  says  that  there  is  a  copy 


THEORY  OF   THE  BALLADE  159 

FranQoise  Colletet:  L'Escole  des  Muses,  1652.^® 

Nicholas  Boileau-Despreaux :  L'Art  Poetique,  1673.^^ 

The  history  of  the  theory  of  the  ballade  would  be  incom- 
plete, on  the  negative  side,  without  the  mention  of  certain 
poetical  treatises  of  the  period  that  with  timely  enthusiasm 
for  the  classical  forms  fail  to  mention  the  ballade  at  all.'^^ 
Such  are : 

Antoine  Fouquelin  (or  Foclin)  :  La  Bketorique  Fran- 
goise,  1555. 

Pierre  de  Courcelles :  La  Rhetorique,  1557. 

P.  de  Ronsard:  Abrege  de  L'Art  Poetique Frangois,  1565. 

Claude  Fauchet:  Recueil  de  VOrigine  de  la  Langue  et 
Poesie  Frangoise,  1581. 

Nicholas  Rapin :  Vers  Mesurez,  1610. 

Jules  de  la  Mesnardiere :  La  Poetique,  1640. 

Guillaume  Colletet:  L'Art  Poetique,  1658. 

The  theories  which  grew  up  in  regard  to  the  ballade  and 
the  fluctuating  esteem  in  which  it  was  held  at  various  times 
in  the  course  of  three  centuries  are  exemplified  in  the  ex- 
tracts here  given  from  various  works  of  criticism: 

of  Du  Gardin,  dated  Douay  1620,  in  the  Pauline  Library  at  Miinster. 
Speaking  of  Eiickstaschel,  Stengel  says:  '^Ganzliclie  unbekannt  ist 
ihm  ein  Abschnitt  in  Thevenius  Bearbeitung  der  Ramusschen  Gram- 
matik  beglieben.  Es  steht  S  127-137  der  Ausg.  von  1590  unter  der 
Ubersclirift :    De  ratione  versuum  in  Rythmis  atque  metro. ' ' 

19  Cf.  Appendix  I.  Columbia  Library  owns  a  copy  dated  Paris, 
1656. 

20  A.  S.  Cook,  The  Art  of  Poetry  (Boston,  1892). 

21  At  least  three  treatises  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  see  may  con- 
ceivably include  a  discussion  of  the  ballade.     They  are: 

Jean  Ory:  Art  Poetique  (in  MS.).  According  to  Rigoley  de 
Juvigny,  Ory  flourished  in  Mans  about  1544  as  an  ''avocat. " 

Claude  de  Boissiere:  Art  Paetique,  1554.  According  to  Zschalig, 
''Keiner  Pariser  Bibliothek  besitzt  ihn.'^ 

Anonymous:  L' Introduction  d  la  Poesie,  1620.  Mentioned  by  Gou- 
get,  Vol.  Ill,  p.  418. 


160  ,  THE  BALLADE 

II.     Illustrative  Extracts 
A.    Eustache  Deschainps:  L'Art  de  Dictier 

''L'autre  musique  est  appellee  naturele  pour  ce  qu'elle 
ne  puet  estre  aprinse  a  nul,  se  son  propre  eouraige  naturel- 
ment  ne  s'i  applique,  et  est  une  musique  de  bouche  en  pro- 
ferant  paroules  metrifees,  aueune  foiz  en  laiz,  autrefoiz  en 
balades,  autrefoiz  in  rondeaulx  cengles  et  doubles,  et  en 
chancons  baladees,  qui  sont  ainsi  appellees  pour  ce  que  le 
refrain  d'une  balade  sert  tousjours  par  maniere  de  rubriche 
a  la  fin  de  chaseuns  couple  d'icelle,  et  la  cliangon  balladee 
de  trois  vers  doubles  a  tousjours,  par  difference  des  balades, 
son  refrain  et  rubriche  au  commencement,  que  aucuns  ap- 
pellent  du  temps  present  virilays.  Et  ja  soit  ce  que  ceste 
musique  naturele  se  face  de  volunte  amoureuse  a  la  louenge 
des  dames,  et  en  autres  manieres,  selon  les  materes  et  le 
sentement  de  ceuls,  qui  en  ceste  musique  s  'appliquent  et  que 
les  faiseurs  d'icelle  ne  saichent  pas  communement  la  musique 
artificiele  ne  donner  chant  par  art  de  notes  a  ce  qu  'ilz  font, 
toutesvoies  est  appellee  musique  ceste  science  naturele, 
pour  ce  que  le  diz  et  chancons  par  eulx  faiz  ou  les  livres 
metrifiez  se  lisent  de  bouche  et  proferent  par  voix  non  pas 
chantable,  tant  que  les  douces  paroles  ainsis  faicts  et 
recordees  par  vois  plaisent  aux  escoutans  qui  les  oyent  si 
que  au  Puy  d^ amours  anciennement  et  encores  est  acous- 
tumez  en  pluseurs  villes  et  citez  des  pais  et  royaumes  du 
monde. 

**  Ceuls  qui  avoient  et  ont  acoustume  de  faire  en  ceste 
musique  naturele  serventois  de  Nostre  Dame,  chan^ans 
royaulx,  pastourelles,  balades  et  rondeaulx  portoient  chas- 
cun  ce  quel  fait  avoit  devant  le  Prince  du  puys,  et  le  recor- 
doit  par  cuer,  et  ce  recort  estoit  appele  en  disant,  apres  qu'ilz 
avoient  chante  leur  chanson  devant  le  Prince,  pour  ce  que 
neant  plus  que  Ten  pourroit  proferer  le  chant  de  musique 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  161 

sanz  la  bouche  ouvrir,  neant  plus  pourroit  Ten  proferer 
ceste  musique  naturele  sanz  voix  et  sanz  donner  son  et 
pause  aux  dictez  qui  f  aiz  en  sont. '  '^^ 

*  *  Or  sera  dit  et  escript  cy  apres  la  f  agon  des  Balades. 

**Et  premierement  est  assavoir  que  il  est  hcdade  de  huit 
vers,  dont  la  rubriche  est  pareille  en  ryme  au  ver  antese- 
quent,  et  toutefois  que  le  derrain  mot  du  premier  ver  de  la 
balade  est  de  trois  sillabes,  il  doit  estre  de  .XI.  piez,  si 
comme  il  sera  veu  par  exemple  cy  apres ;  et  se  le  derrenier 
mot  du  second  ver  n'a  qu^une  ou  deux  sillabes,  ledit  ver  sera 
de  dix  piez ;  et  se  il  ya  aucun  ver  coppe  qui  soit  de  cinq  piez, 
Exemple   sur  ce   que  Dit  Est. 

Balade  de  .VIII.  vers  couppez. 
"  Je  hez  jours  et  ma  vie  dolente, 
Et  si  maudis  Peure  que  je  fu  nez, 
Et  a  la  mort  humblement  me  presente 
Pour  les  tourmens  dont  je  suy  fortunez. 
Je  hez  ma  concepcion 
Et  si  maudi  ma  constellacion 
Ou  Fortune  me  fist  naistre  premier, 
Quant  je  me  voy  de  toutz  maulx  prisonnier. 

*'Et  en  ceste  balade  leonime,  par  ce  qu'en  chascun  ver  elle 
emporte  sillabe  entiere,  aussi  comme  dolente  et  presente, 
concepcion  et  constellacion. 

Autre  Balade 

"  De  tous  les  biens  temporelz  de  ce  monde 
Ne  se  doit  nulz  roys  ne  sires  clamer, 
Puisque  telz  sont  que  Fortune  suronde 
Qui  par  son  droit  les  puet  touldre  ou  embler; 

22  G.  Eaynaud,  GEuvres  Completes  de  Eustache  Deschamps,  Soci4te 
des  Anciens  Textes  Frangais  (Paris,  1891),  Vol.  VII,  pp.  270-271. 
12 


162  THE  BALLADE 

Le  plus  puissant  puet  I'autre  deserter, 
Si  qu'il  n'est  roy,  due  n^empereur  de  Romme 
Qui  en  terre  puist  vray  tiltre  occuper 
Ne  dire  sien,  fors  que  le  sens  de  I'omme. 


<<i 


Ceste  balade  est  moitie  leonime  et  moitie  sonant,  si  comme 
11  apert  par  monde,  par  onde,  [ce  mot  ne  se  trouve  pas  a  la 
rime  dans  cette  piece],  par  homme  par  Bonime  qui  sont 
plaines  sillabes  et  entieres ;  et  les  autres  sonans  tant  seule- 
ment,  ou  il  n'a  point  entiere  sillabe,  si  comme  clamer  et 
oster  [le  not  oster  appartient  an  3®  couplet],  ou  il  n'a  que 
demie  sillabe,  ou  si  comme  seroit  presentement  et  innocent. 
Et  ainsi  es  cas  semblables  puet  estre  cogneu  qui  est  leonime 
ou  sonnant. 

Exemple  de  Balade  de  .IX.  vers  toute  leonyme. 

"  Vous  qui  avez  pour  passer  vostre  vie 
Qui  chascun  jour  ne  fait  que  defenir, 
Vous  vivez  frans  sanz  viande  ravie, 
Se  du  vostre  vous  pouez  maintenir. 
Or  vous  vueilliez  du  serf  lien  tenir 
Ou  pluseurs  par  couvoitise 
Ont  perdu  corps,  esperit  et  franchise; 
C'est  de  servir  autrui,  dont  je  me  lasse : 
Vieillesse  vient,  guerdon  fault,  temps  se  passe. 

Exemple  de  Balade  de  dix  vers  de  .X.  et  de  .XI.  sillabes. 

*  *  Et  se  doit  on  tousjours  garder  en  f  aisant  balade,  qui  puet, 
qui  les  vers  ne  soient  pas  de  mesmes  piez,  mais  doivent  estre 
de  .IX.  our  de  .X.,  de  .VII.  ou  de  .VIII.  ou  de  .IX.,  selon  ce 
qu'il  plaist  au  faiseur,  sanz  les  faire  touz  egaulx,  car  la 
balade  n'en  est  pas  si  plaisant  ne  de  si  bonne  faQon."^^ 

Balade  equivoque,  retrograde  et  leonime. 
23  G.  Raynaud,  Opus  Cit.,  Vol.  VII,  p.  274-276. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  163 

**Et  sont  les  pliis  fors  balades  qui  se  puissent  faire,  car  il 
couvient  que  la  derreniere  sillabe  de  chascun  ver  soit  re- 
prinse  au  commencement  du  ver  ensuient,  en  autre  signifi- 
cation et  en  autre  sens  que  la  fin  du  ver  precedent.  Et 
pour  ce  sont  telz  mos  appellez  equivoques  et  retrogrades, 
car  en  une  meisme  semblance  de  parler  et  d'escripture  ilz 
huchent  et  baillent  significacion  et  entendement  contraire 
des  mos  derreniers  mis  en  la  rime,  si  comme  il  apparra  en 
ceste  couple  mise  cy  apres: 

Autre  Balade 

"Lasse,  lasse  maleureuse  et  dolente! 
Lente  me  voy,  fors  de  soupirs  et  plains. 
Plains  sont  mes  jours  d'ennuy  et  de  tourmente! 
Mente  qui  veult,  car  mes  cuer  est  certains, 
Tains  jusqu'a  mort  et  pour  celli  que  ^^ains; 
Ains  mais  ne  fu  dame  se  fort  atainte; 
Tainte  me  voy  quant  il  m'ayme  le  mains 
Mains,  entendez  ma  piteuse  complainte. 

**Et  couvient  que  tous  le  couples  se  finent  par  la  maniere 
dessurdicte  tout  en  equivocacion  retrograde,  ou  autrement 
elle  ne  seroit  pas  dicte  ne  reputee  pour  equivoque  ne  retro- 
grade, supposee  ore  que  le  derrenier  mot  du  ver  se  peust 
reprandre  a  aucun  entendement  du  ver  ensuiant,  se  il  ne 
reprenoit  toute  autre  chose  que  le  precedent. '  '^^ 

"Item  en  ladicte  balade  a  envoy.  Et  ne  les  souloit  on 
point  faire  anciennement  fors  es  changons  royaulx,  qui 
estoient  de  cinq  couples,  chascune  couple  de  .X.,  .XI.  ou 
.XII.  vers;  et  de  tant  se  puelent  bien  faire,  et  non  pas  de 
plus,  par  droicte  regie.  Et  doivent  les  envois  d'icelles 
changons,  qui  commencent  par  Princes,  estre  de  cinq  vers 

24  G.  Eaynaud,  Opus  Cit.,  Vol.  VII,  p.  277-278. 


164  THE   BALLADE 

entez  par  eulx  aux  rimes  de  la  changon  sanz  rebrique ;  c  'est 
assavoir  .II.  vers  premiers,  et  puis  un  pareil  de  la  rebriche ; 
et  les  .II.  autres  suyans  les  premiers,  deux  concluans  en 
substance  Teffecte  de  ladiete  chancon  et  servens  a  la  re- 
briche. Et  Tenvoy  d'une  balade  de  trois  vers  aussi,  conte- 
nant  sa  matere  et  servant  a  la  rebriche,  comme  il  sera  dit 
cy  apres."^^ 

*'Item  encores  puet  Ten  faire  balades  de  .VII.  vers,  dont 
les  deux  vers  sont  tousjours  de  la  rebriche,  si  comme  il  puet 
apparavoir  cy  apres :    * 

"Par  fondement  me  doy  plaindre  et  plourer, 
Et  regreter  des  .IX.  preux  la  vaillance, 
Car  je  voy  bien  que  je  ne  puis  durer. 
Confort  un  fuit,  Honte  vers  moy  s'avance, 
Couvoitise  met  en  arrest  sa  lance 
Qui  me  destruit  mon  plus  noble  pais. 
Preux  Charlemaine,  se  tu  fusses  en  France, 
Encore  y  fust  Roland,  ce  m'est  advis."-® 

B.  Jacques  Legrand:  Des  Rimes^'^ 

*  *  Oultre  plus,  aucuns  ditz  sont  nommez  balades,  lesquelles 
se  font  en  diverses  manieres;  toutesfois  la  plus  commune 
maniere  si  est  de  fere  deux  vers  ed  pluseurs  couples,  des- 
quelz  deux  vers  Tung  s'appelle  I'ouvert  et  I'autre  le  clos ;  et 

25  G.  Raynaud,  Opus  Cit.,  Vol.  VII,  p.  278. 

26  G.  Raynaud,  Opus  Cit.,  Vol.  VII,  p.  279. 

27  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  1-10.  Des  Bimes  was  included  in  the 
Archiloge  Sophie  of  which  there  are  four  MSS.  in  the  Bihliothdqae 
Nationale.  The  longer  work  has  never  been  printed  as  a  whole. 
Legrand,  the  author,  was  born  in  the  third  quarter  of  the  fourteenth 
century  and  died  about  1425.  He  was  probably  not  a  poet  himself; 
his  theory  represents  an  earlier  poetic  practice.  (See  E.  Langlois, 
Opus  Cit,  p.  xiv.) 


THEORY  OP  THE  BALLADE  165 

puis  apres  on  doit  fere  ung  ver  nomme  oultre  passe,  lequel 
doit  tenir  sa  ryme  des  deux  premiers,  ou  du  refrain,  ou  de 
tous  deux,  qui  peult.  Et  finablement  on  doit  fere  ung  re- 
frain, lequel  doit  estre  appartenant  et  declaire  par  les  vers 
devant  ditz.  Et  semblablement  on  doit  tousjours  apres  pro- 
ceder,  en  tendant  tousjours  a  une  fin;  c'est  assavoir  a  prou- 
ver  et  demonstrer  son  refrain,  et  a  parler  pertinamment  a 
luy,  aultrement  la  ballade  n'est  pas  bien  composee.  * '^® 

C.    Les  Regies  de  la  Seconde  Rhetorique^* 

"Item J  la  taille  des  balades  tumhans  et  en  figure  de  petiz 
lads,  comme  il  s'ensuit. 

"  Dire  ne  vous  saroie 
N^escripre  ne  porroie 
N*en  vision  songier. 
Pour  nouvelles  que  j^oye, 
Le  bien,  Fonneur,  la  joye 
Qu^amans  ont  sans  dangier 
El  gracieux  bergier 
Ou  Amours  seur  avoye, 
Le  bon  temps  que  j 'avoye 
Quant  j'estoie  bergier.^^ 

28  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cii.,  pp.  7-8.  In  order  to  understand  Le- 
grand's  formula  for  the  ballade  it  is  necessary  to  remember  that  the 
word  vers  should  be  taken  to  mean  **  group  of  verses,  *'  pluseurs  to 
mean  'Hwo,"  and  couples  to  mean  those  lines  that  rime  together. 
(See  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  5,  notes  5,  6,  and  7.) 

29  The  author  of  Les  Regies  de  la  Seconde  Bhetorique  is  not  known 
and  the  work  is  undated,  but  its  compiler  quotes  Deschamps,  who  died 
in  1404,  and  Jean  Froissart,  who  died  in  1411.  On  the  other  hand, 
Langlois  shows  that  in  1432  Baudet  Herenc  used  Les  Begles  in  his 
own  Doctrinal.  The  MS.  of  this  anonymous  manual  of  poetics  is  in  the 
Bihliotheque  Nationale.     (See  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  xix,  ff.) 

30  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  58:  ''L'autheur  compte  la  dernidre  syllabe 
du  vers  feminin. " 


166  THE   BALLADE 

**  II  est  a  noter  que  on  puet  fere  sa  balade  tumbant  de  tout 
mettre  puiz  le  nombre  de  sept  sillabes  jusques  a  [u]  nombre 
de  .xj. 


^^  Item  J  autres  tailles  de  doubles  croisies  en  hdlladant,  i 

Balade  I 

J'ay  espere  long  temps  don  de  mercy,  j 

Maiz  il  ne  vuet  venir  sans  reculer.  j 

Ce  salt  Dangler,  point  ne  Fen  remercy,  '' 

Car  clers  voyans  font  semblant  d'avuler,  j 

Nulz  fors  les  sours  ne  vuet  oyr  parler. 

Fortune  m'a  ceste  oeuvre  pourpensee,  i 

Si  en  escrips,  pliis  ne  le  puiz  celer,  \ 

De  plours,  de  sang  et  de  triste  pensee."^^  : 

"Item,  autres  tailles  de  balades  estranges  en  soties  selonc  les  i 

.V.  voieulx.  . 

Pour  moy  parer  hier  me  vestis  de. 
'  Et  affulay  chaperon  sans  cor. 

Comme  celui  qui  a  amer  s'e- 

Sote  cornant  qui  n'est  pas  de  corps- 

Lors  dame  Amours  en  guise  de  pen 

,  Se  traist  vers  moy  et  me  dist  espa^ __:i:r=-nite 

^    A  Sote  amer  qui  a  jiom  Vince^...^ 

Car  [moult]  bien  scet  de  truande  le  •~i:>.note 

Et  des  marans  sur  toutes  est  cong-^.....^^^^^^^-^^^^^'^'^^ 
^  Je  responder,  dont  j'eus  une  hor-^-""''^      '^^^^^^^'^^^^ 

Non  feray  voir,  point  ne  I'aray  je."^- 

"  Cy  s'ensuit  une  taille  plainne  laie  halladant. 

Jeune,  joyeux,  gallant,  frique,  joly, 

Gay  et  poly,  plain  d'amoureux  espoir, 

Et  main  et  soir  seray,  quar  enbelly, 

31  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  58-59. 

32  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  65. 


THEORY   OP   THE  BALLADE 


167 


Sans  nul  f  aulx  sy 
Dont,  sans  mouvoir 
Ou  esmouvoir 
Par  grant  doulgour, 
Paiz  et  Honnour, 
Se  ne  chesse 
Cest  pour  I'amour 


men  a  loyal  vouloir, 

mon  cueur  de  beau  manoir 

Pa  voulu  bonne  amour, 

prennent  en  moy  sejour 

Loyaute  et  Leese. 

d'eus  loer  en  cest  jour, 

de  ma  dame  et  maistresse."^* 


''  Cy  s'ensuit  ballade  laye. 

Helas !    Amours, 

Par  vostre  gre. 
La  grant  durte 
Si  durement 

Car  agripe 
Et  attrape 
Triste  tourment 

Nesunement 
N^alegement 
Ainsi  finer 

Et  tristrement 
Pour  loyaument 

"  Cy  s'ensuit  ballades  a  Mj,  manieres. 

Bien  doit  amant 
/oyeusement 
J.U  temps  plaisant 
Fray  sentement 
Tenir  en  soy 
Et  esbanoy 
Car  bien  dire  os 
La  ou  enelos 
A  sens  bonte 
Bens  par  compos. 


regardes  e  n  pite, 

qui  nuit  et  jour  m'esprent 
que  je  pers  ma  sante, 

m'a  douloureusement 
par  quoy  n*ay  sentement 

qui  me  puist  conforter. 
Me  faut  piteusement 

vous  servir  et  amer. 


que  vuet  amours  servir 
par  maniere  ordonnee. 
avoir  doulz  souvenir 
faut  qu'il  ait  c'est  I'entree 
largesce  et  courtoisie 
si  convient  sans  boidie 
se  il  vuet  remanoir 
par  amoureux  vouloir 
son  euer  comme  soubgis 
en  la  fin  puet  avoir. 


[Two  other  stanzas  given.] 

Bimes  en  mos  Princes  sans  non  chaloir 

Tcy  ente  sens  bien  en  vous  a  mis 

saLanglois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  97. 


168  .  THE  BALLADE 

iS'ont  dont  je  los  chil  qui  puet  esmouvoir." 

P.  de  Compiengne.^* 

D.    Baudet  Herenc:  Le  Doctrinal  de  la  Seconde 
Rhetorique^^ 

*'Cy  s'ensuit  une  balade,  et  de  matiere  que  Ton  doibt 
tenir  en  puy  d'escole,  laquelle  est  de  .xj.  lignes  en  chascun 
couplet,  pour  ce  que  le  reffrain  et  de  .xj.  sillabes. 

"  Cil  qui  des  f  ais  d' Amour  n'a  congnoissance 
Et  desire  savoir  trouver  maniere 
De  rendre  a  luy  loyale  obeissance, 
Pour  parvenir  a  sa  grace  planiere 
Et  a  I'amour  de  dame  doulce  et  gente, 
Viengne  servir  en  sa  court  excellente; 
La  trouvera  tourment  delicieux, 
Confort  dolant,  ennuy  solacieux, 
Doulceur  amere,  esjoy[e]  tristresse, 
Guerre  amoureuse ;  et  si  domine  en  eulx 
Haultain  plaisir,  qui  cueur  tient  en  destresse. 

[Two  other  stanzas  given.] 

Prince  d' Amours,  pour  estre  plus  eureux 
Ou  service  d' Amours,  tenes  I'adresse 
.  D'avoir  en  vous,  comme  amant  cremeteux, 
Haultain  plaisir,  qui  cueur  tient  en  destresse. 

*'Aultre  taille  de  balade  que  on  doibt  faire  ou  diet  puy 
d'eseolle  laquelle  ne  doibt  contenir  que  dix  lignes,  pour  ce 
que  le  reffrain  ne  contient  que  dix  sillabes. 

34  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  100-101. 

35  The  Doctrinal  gives  evidence  that  its  author  knew  the  preceding 
treatise.  Langlois  (Opus  Cit.,  p.  xxxvii)  says  that  Herenc 's  inno- 
vations and  his  reorganization  of  material  are  always  in  the  direction 
of  greater  system  and  more  logical  arrangement.  Both  treatises  are 
written  in  the  dialect  of  Picardy. 


THEORY   OP   THE  BALLADE  169 

Je  me  suis  mis  ou  plus  joieux  dangler 
Qu'onqiie[s]  amant  se  mist  pour  grace  attraire 
De  celle  a  qui  j*ay  requis  que  logier 
VoeuUe  mon  cueur  ou  sien,  sans  le  retraire; 
Et  loyalment,  sans  aler  au  contraire, 
A  le  servir  je  mettray  mon  entente; 
Car  j'espoire,  quoy  que  vive  en  attente 
D'avoir  mercy,  qu'en  bien  me  partira. 
Donques,  affin  que  ceste  doulceur  sente, 
Jamais  mon  cueur  qu^elle  me  ch[o]isira. 

[Two  other  stanzas  given.] 

Prince  d' Amours,  pour  la  beaulte  tres  gente 
De  ma  chiere  maistresse,  ou  se  mira 
Mon  vray  desir  par  plaisance  evidente, 
Jamais  mon  cueur  qu'elle  ne  choisira. 

**Aultre  taille  de  balade  d'escolle,  Tune  de  huit  lignes, 
pour  ee  que  le  reffrain  contient  .viij.  sillabes  et  I'aultre  de 
.ix.  lignes,  pour  ce  que  le  reffrain  contient  .ix.  sillabes. 

"  Le  monde  va  en  amendant, 
Car  Orgueil,  Ire  et  Gloutonnie 
Ne  si  moustrent  plus  maintenant, 
Paresse,  Luxure  ne  Envye, 
N' Avarice  que  Dieu  mauldie! 
On  a  buy  du  mal  d'aultruy  doeul ; 
Misericorde  est  exaulchie. 
Se  je  dis  vray,  creves  moy  Poeul. 

[Two  other  stanzas  given.] 

Prince,  ma  femme  est  vien  m'amie 

Car  pour  faire  de  que  je  voeul 

EUe  est  toudis  appareillie.  ^ 

Se  je  dis  vray,  creves  moy  Poeul. 

''Ballade  eontenant  .ix.  lignes,  pour  ce  que  le  reffrain  est 
de  .ix.  sillabes,  comme  dit  est. 


170  THE  BALLADE 

Un  compaignon  d'entendement 
Et  une  femme  de  raison 
Entrois  n'a  mye  gramment, 
S'oys  que  celle  au  compaignon 
Disoit :  ^  II  me  f aut  presenter 
Poulain,  pour  mon  car  atteler, 
Car  je  voeul  aler  ou  voyage 
Ou  on  peult  souvent  encontrer 
Les  broudes  visaige  a  visaige/ 

C'il  respond!  centainement : 

'  Dame,  j'ay  poulain  de  f  ason, 

Fouet  a  deux  noux,  dont  souvent 

Le  chasseray,  mais  que  ou  moilon 

Des  limons  le  voeuUes  mener/ 

Adonc  vis  le  dame  lever  ' 

Les  limons  comme  il  est  d'usaige, 

Disant:  *  Hastes  vous  de  trouver 

Les  broudes  visaige  a  visaige/ 

[The  third  stanza  is  given.] 

Prince,  pour  en  paix  demourer. 
Home  que  est  en  mariaige, 
II  luy  fault  souvent  adjuster 
Les  broudes  visaige  a  visaige. 

"Aultre  forme  de  balade,  que  ne  doibt  comprendre  que 
.vij.  lignes,  pour  ce  que  le  mettre  ne  doibt  estre  que  [de]  .vij. 
sillabes  le  masculin,  et  le  feminin  de  .viij.  sillabes;  et  s'ap- 
pelle  balade  baladant. 

"Ung  homme,  provre  d^avoir, 
Au  lit  mortel  disoit  hier, 
En  plourant :  *  Bon  doit  avoir 
Dieu  de  moy  contrarier, 
Que  tant  de  biens  envoier 


THEORY  OP  THE  BALLADE  171 

En  ce  monde  me  soloit, 
Et  sie  ne  m^eii  souvenoit. 

[Two  other  stanzas  given.] 

Prince,  maint  an  a  entier 
Qu'on  m'a  volu  enseigner 
Tons  les  poins  que  cil  disoit, 
Et  si  ne  m^en  souvenoit." 

Cy  s'ensuivent  aultres  halades  nouvelle  faittes  a  plaisance. 

Balade  Faitte  A  La  Volente  De  L^Ouvrier. 

"  Je  vous  mercye,  Amours, 
De  tres  loyal  vouloir 
De  voz  plaisans  doul§ours 
Que  me  faittes  avoir; 
En  vo  service  gent 
Vostre  suis  ligement; 
Car  par  rians  regars, 
A  mon  cueur  contente 
Celle  qui  les  deux  pars 
De  son  cueur  m'a  donne. 

[Another  stanza  given.] 

Prince,  des  joyaulx  dars 
D'Amour  m'a  assene 
Celle  qui  les  deux  pars 
De  son  cueur  m'a  donne. 

Balade  Layee 

"  Belle,  en  vous  servant  m'est  venue 
Desplaisance  en  lieu  de  liesse. 
Qui  piece  a  vous  ay  esleiie 
Pour  ma  souv[e]raine  maistresse 
Et  desse; 


172  ,  THE  BALLADE 

Et  vous  m'aves  habandonne 

Et  donne. 
Reffus,  qui  foy  vous  ai  promis, 

Comme  amis. 
C'est  par  envye  venimeuse 

Et  doubteuse, 
Qui  greve  m'a  vers  vous  a  tort: 
Jamais  n^aray  vie  joieuse, 
Ains  array  paine  doloureuse 

San  confort. 

[Two  other  stanzas  given.] 

Aultre  Balade  Be  Court  Mett[r]e 

"  Chiere  maistresse, 
A  vous  me  plains 
De  la  destresse 
Dont  je  suis  plains 
Par  Bel  Accoeil, 
Dont  je  recoil 
Angoisse  dure, 
Qui  trop  me  dure, 
Car  mes  solas 
Troeuve  en  decours, 
Criant:  'Helas  ! 
Mort  ou  secours ! ' 

[Another  stanza  given.] 

Princesse  pure, 
De  humble  figure, 
N^oublies  pas 
Moy  en  doulours, 
Criant:  'Helas! 
Mort  ou  secours !  *  "*• 

8«  Langlois,  Opus  Cit,  pp.  179-189. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  173 

E.      Traits  de  L'Art  de  BMtorique^'^ 

''Item,  on  doit  sgavoir  que  communement  rondelz  ne 
balades  n'ont  point  de  nombre  de  silabes  en  leurs  bastons.  "^^ 

^^Cy  s'e7isuit  le  tractie  des  balades  de  toute  fourmes. 

La  balade  ait  .iij.  clause  et  une  demey  clause ;  et  doit  avoir 
au  moin  .vij.  bastons  en  chascune  plainne  clause;  et  en 
demey  clause  lemoin  que  on  puet  mettre  se  le  scens  puet 
estre  bon. 

"En  une  chascune  balade  doit  estre  ung  reffrain  d'un 
baston,  et  ce  reffrain  doit  estre  mis  en  la  fin  de  chascun  vers 
ou  de  chascune  clause  et  demi  clause  d'une  balade,  comme  il 
appert  bien  evidemment  au  balades  f aictes.  Et  doit  estre  le 
scens  rapportes  et  refferez  de  chascune  clause  a  celui  ref- 
frain, comme  il  appert  az  autres  balades.  Et  pour  ceu  que 
on  ne  doit  point  redire  une  chose,  on  doit  panre  nouvel  pro- 
pos  ou  nouvel  moz  en  la  fin  de  chascune  clause  qui  soient 
rapportez  au  bastons  de  celle  ballade,  tant  que  le  scens  soit 
bons  et  passable  devant  tons. 

' '  Item,  la  maniere  de  rimer  balades  est  de  plusiers  manie- 
res,  mais  en  une  chacune  clause  doit  estre  une  croisiee  de 
rime  au  eommancement,  comme  cy  appert  en  1 'example  de 
cest  balade  la.  On  puet  pranre  fourme  et  maniere  de  faire 
balades  autrez  sus  la  forme  de  cest  cy : 

"  Je  croy  que  Dieu  trestout  crea: 
Le  ciel  [et]  le  terre  et  la  mer, 
Et  en  apres  qu'il  procrea 
Adam  et  Eve  sans  doubter; 

s^Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  xliv:  The  next  authority  whom  we  consult 
for  the  theory  of  the  ballade  is  the  unknown  author  of  the  Traite  de 
VArt  de  Bhetorique.  This  essay  is  preserved  in  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale  in  a  manuscript  apparently  of  the  second  third  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  The  only  forms  of  poetry  for  which  rules  are  given 
are  the  ballade  and  the  rondeau. 

3S  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  203. 


174  THE   BALLADE 

Puis  par  la  pomme  hors  bouter 
Lez  fist  du  paradis  terrestre, 
Et  pour  nous  de  painne  getter 
II  volt  de  mere  vierge  nestre. 

*  *  Item,  aussi  on  puet  f  aire  balades  de  plus  de  bastons  et  de 
plux  clauses,  mais,  pour  cause  de  brief  te,  je  lasse  ceste  chose 
et  la  mes  en  la  bonne  diligence  d'un  chascun,  etc/'^® 

F.     Jean  Molinet:  L^Art  de  Rhetorique  Vulgaire*^ 

''Autre  taille  de  rimes  se  nomme  enchayennee,  pour  ce 
que  la  fin  d'un  metre  est  pareil  en  voix  au  commencement 
de  Tautre,  et  est  diverse  en  signification.  Et  se  puet  ceste 
taille  causer  en  balades,  vers  huitains.  ... 

Exemple^^ 

"  Trop  durement  mon  cuer  souspire, 
Pire  mal  sent  que  desconfort; 

aoLanglois,  Opiis  Cit.,  pp.  205-206,  passim:  Here,  baston  means 
line;  demey  clause,  envoy;  and  vers,  a  strophe  or  stanza.  When  the 
author  says  that  a  stanza  should  have  at  least  seven  lines  he  probably 
does  not  count  the  refrain. 

40  This  treatise,  long  attributed  to  Henri  de  Croy,  is  known  in  an 
edition  of  1493,  published  by  Antoine  Verard  at  Paris.  It  is  more 
lucid  than  any  of  its  predecessors  or  than  any  of  its  successors  in  the 
field.  Just  what  Molinet 's  obligations  to  former  works  are  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  say.  He  seems  to  have  been  the  kind  of  person  who  would  have 
worked  into  his  scheme  everything  that  was  suitable,  and  so  he  prob- 
ably gathered  a  distinction  here,  or  a  classification  there,  from  the 
rhetoricians  who  proceeded  him.  L'Infortun6,  Fabri,  and  the  authors 
of  the  two  other  anonymous  treatises,  published  by  Langlois  in  the 
JRecueil,  in  their  turn,  levied  contributions  on  Molinet.  These  obliga- 
tions are,  however,  not  so  plain,  if  we  base  our  comparison  only  on  the 
ballade.  (See  Langlois,  De  Artibus  Bhetoricae  Ehythmicae,  Paris, 
1890,  pp.  51  ff.) 

*i  The  same  tortured  variety  is  called  by  Deschamps,  Ballade  equi- 
voque retrograde  et  leonine. 


THEORY  OF   THE  BALLADE  175 

Confort  le  fait,  plus  n'a  riens  fort. 
Fort  se  plaint,  ne  scet  qu'il  doit  dire.*^ 

**Balade  commune  doit  avoir  refrain  et  trois  couples  et 
I'envoy.  Le  refrain  et  la  derreniere  ligne  desdis  couples  et 
de  I'envoy,  auquel  refrain  se  tire  toute  la  sustance  de  la 
balade,  ainsi  que  la  sayette  au  signe  du  bersail.  Et  doit 
chascun  couplet,  par  rigour  d'examen,  avoir  autant  de 
lignes  que  le  refrain  contient  de  sillabes.  Se  le  refrain  a 
.viij.  sillabes  et  la  derrieniere  est  parfaitte,  la  balade  doit 
tenir  forme  de  vers  huytains;  se  le  refrain  a  .ix.  sillabes, 
les  couples  seront  de  .ix.  lignes,  dont  les  quatre  premieres  se 
croisent;  la  .v®.,  .vj®  et  .viij®.  sont  de  pareille  termination, 
different,  aux  premieres,  et  la  .vij®.  et  .ix®.  lignes  pareilles 
en  consonance  et  distinctes  a  toutes  autres.  Se  la  refrain 
a  .X.  sillabes,  les  couples  de  la  balade  sont  de  .x.  lignes,  dont 
les  .iiij.  premieres  se  croisent;  la  .v®.  pareille  a  la  .iiij®.,  la 
.vij®.  et  la  .ix®.  de  pareille  termination,  et  la  .viij®.  et  .x®. 
egales  en  consonnance.  Se  le  refrain  a  .xj.  sillabes,  les 
couples  avront  .xj.  lignes,  les  .iiij.  premieres  se  croisent  la 
.V®.,  et  .vj®.  pareilles  en  rimes,  la  .vij®.,  .viij®.  et  .x®.  egales  en 
consonance  et  la  .ix®.  et  .xj®.  de  pareille  termination.  Et 
est  a  noter  que  tout  envoy  lequel  a  la  fois  recommence  par 
Prince,  a  son  refrain  comme  les  autres  couples,  mais  il  ne 
contient  que  .v.  lignes  au  plus  et  prent  ses  terminations  et 
rimes  selon  les  derrenieres  lignes  des  dessusdis  couples. 

Exemple  de  Balade  Commune*^ 

"  Des  Mirmidons  la  hardiesse  emprendre, 
Pour  envayr  le  tres  puissant  Athlas, 
De  Medea  les  cauteles  aprendre, 
Pour  inpugner  les  ai-s  dame  Palas, 

*2  Three  other  similar  quartrains  are  given.  See  Langlois,  Becueil, 
pp.  224^225. 

*3  Found  also  in  Molinet  's  Faictz  et  Dictz,  f .  74. 


176  THE  BALLADE 

Faire  trambler  de  monde  la  machine, 
Fourdroier  Mars,  qui  contre  nous  machine, 
Fouder  chasteaux  sus  le  mont  Pemasus 
Voler  en  air  ainsi  que  Pegasus, 
Endormir  gens  au  flagol  de  Mercure 
N'est  il  besoing  pour  parvenir  lassus: 
II  fait  assez  qui  son  salut  procure. 

[Two  other  stanzas  given.] 

Prince  du  puy,  le  grant  dieu  Saturnus, 
Demogorgon,  Pheton,  Phebe,  Phebus 
Ne  demandent  grant  labour  ne  grant  cure, 
Mais  que  le  corps  soit  bien  entretenus 
II  fait  assez  qui  son  salut  procure. 

*  *  Balade  balladant  tient  les  termes  de  ballade  commune,  si 
non  que  les  couples  sont  comme  vers  septains.  Autres  dient 
qu'elle  est  de  dix  et  de  .xj.  sillabes,  et  est  batelee  a  la  .iiij®. 
sillabe  en  certaines  lignes ;  car  en  toutes  lignes  de  dix  ou  de 
.xj.  sillabes,  soit  en  balade  ou  autre  taille,  tousjours  la 
quarte  sillabe  on  piet  doit  estre  de  mot  complet,  et  doit  on 
illec  reposer  en  la  pronuncant. 

Exemple** 
"  Jui's  ont  dit  que  nostra  redempteur 
Fut  enebanteur  pas  art  dyabolique 

Fol  seducteur,  faulx  prevaricateur, 

Menteur,  vanteur  facteur  de  voie  oblique; 

Mais  sainct  Jehan  dist  qu'il  nous  inspira, 
Qu'il  nous  crea  et  si  bien  nous  ama 

Qu*il  nous  forma  a  son  divin  semblant. 

II  fut  enfant  du  pere  triumphant, 

Soleil  luisant,  sente  on  nul  ne  devie, 

Fleur  flourissant,  vraie  messie  naissant, 

Dieu  tout  puissant,  verite,  voie  et  vie. 

[Two  more  stanzas;  then  comes  the  envoy.] 
<♦  Also  printed  in  Molinet  *s  Faictz  et  Dictz,  f .  1. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  177 

Prince  du  puy,  si  estes  obeissant 
A  son  command,  en  sa  gloire  infinie 

Laseus  regnant  le  verrez  dominant, 

Dieu  tout  puissant,  verite,  voie  et  vie. 

"Balade  fatrisee  ou  jumelle  sont  deux  ballades  communes 
telement  annexeez  ensemble  que  le  commencement  de  I'une 
donne  refrain  a  Tautre.     C'est  couleur  de  rhethorique  est 

decente  a  faire  regrez,  comme  il  appert  en  TYstoire  de  sainct  ' 

jQuentin,  ou  Tescuier  trouva  sainct  Maurice  mutile  sur  les  - 
champs. 

Exemple^^ 

"  Maurice,  le  beau  chevalier,  ' 

Tu  es  mort!    Ellas!  que  feray  je?  j 

Je  ne  te  puis  vie  baillier,  j 

Ne  susciter,  ne  conseillier!  ! 

Tu  as  paie  mortel  treuage.  ] 

Quel  perte !  quel  dueil !  quel  dommage !  \ 

Quel  criminel  oceision!  \ 

0  terrible  prodition !  \ 

0  terrible  prodition !  ! 

Faulx  empereur  de  Rommenie,  >. 

Maudite  generation,  ] 

Pute  enge,  pute  nation,  i 

Pute  gent,  pute  progenie,  \ 
Vous  avez  par  grant  tyrannie 

Mis  a  mort  et  fait  exillier  ^ 

Maurice,  le  beau  chevalier!  '•'. 

\ 

Maurice,  le  beau  chevalier,  ' 

Noble  due  de  hardy  corage,                                        ,  j 

Tu  estois  venus  bataillier,  [ 

Pour  le  bien  publique  habillier  I 

45  The  reference  to  the  Sainct  Quentin  and  the  presence  of  the  fol-  ; 

lowing  ballade  here  and  in  the  Mystery,  led  Langlois  to  attribute  the  I 

Mystery  to  Molinet.    See  Bomania,  XXII,  p.  552.  ! 

13  i 


178  THE  BALLADE 

De  paix  et  de  hautain  parage, 
Mais  les  traytres  plains  de  rage 
Ont  failly  de  promission. 
0  terrible  prodition ! 

0  terrible  prodition ! 

Faulz  tirans,  plains  de  dyablerie, 

Destruite  avez  la  legion 

De  la  thebee  region, 

Et  sa  noble  chevalerie. 

Entre  lesquelz  la  fleur  flourie 

Estoit  pour  tons  cuers  resveillier, 

Maurice,  le  beau  chevalier! 

Maurice,  le  beau  chevalier 
Que  dira  ton  hault  parentage. 
Si  tost  qu'il  porra  soutillier 
Comment  on  t^a  fait  detaillier 
Et  murdrir  en  fleur  de  ton  age? 
Quel  desconfort!  quel  grief  outrage! 
Quel  pleur!  quel  lamentation! 
O  terrible  prodition ! 

O  terrible  prodition ! 

As  tu  fait  ceste  villonnie! 

Tu  ev  avra  pugnition 

Et  horrible  dampnation 

Avec  Fenfemale  maisnie. 

La  terre  est  couverte  et  honnie 

Du  sang  du  bon  due  famillier, 

Maurice,  le  beau  chevalier! 

Prince,  vous  avez  pas  envie 
Assome  et  fait  traveillier 
Maurice,  le  beau  chevalier."^® 

*•  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  235-241. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  179 

G.  Llnfortune:  L'Instructif  de  Seconde  Bhetoricque*'^ 
Sig.  b  iii  verso 

De  nona  specie 

"Les  balades  communement  < 

Par  telz  formes  sont  composees  j 


Reprendre  on  doit  premierement 
Les  premieres  lignes  croisees 
Au  quart  et  quint  lieu  apposees 
Troys  coupletz  egaulx  au  renger 
Ainsi  doiuent  estre  posees 

Refrain  pareil  sans  riens  changer 
Auec  troys  coupletz  mesmement 
Desgales  lignes  proposees 
Vng  prince  y  soit  pareillement 
De  la  moitie  des  exposees 
Coupletz  qui  seront  imposees 
Sans  aucun  vice  y  calanger 
Si  non  par  na  aux  disposees 
Refrains  pareil  sans  riens  changer. 

Les  coupletz  soient  signament 
Dautant  de  lignes  compassees 
Comme  le  refrain  proprement 
A  de  sillabes  proposees 
Et  ces  reigles  presupposees 
Lon  peult  les  balades  forger 
En  forme  bien  auctorisees 
Refrain  pareil  sans  riens  changer 

47  L  'Instructif  de  Seconde  Bhetoricque,  printed  in  Le  Jardin  de 
Plaisance,  was  written  by  an  author  who  signed  himself  L'Infortnne. 
He  may  have  been  a  certain  Jourdain  or  Joannes  Caletenses.  The 
treatise  is  in  rime  and  the  various  forms  of  poetry  described  are  ex- 
emplified in  the  statement  of  the  rules  that  present  in  themselves  the 
very  type  of  verse  they  are  explaining.  See  G.  Pellissier,  De  Sexti 
Decimi  Saeculi  in  Francia  Artxbus  Poeticis  (Paris,  1882). 


180  THE  BALLADE  j 

I 
Le  prince  soit  tant  seulement  1 

De  la  moitie  pour  abregier  ' 

Des  coupletz  et  non  autrement  | 

Refrain  pareil  sans  riens  changer  ] 

Notabile 

Doppinion  sot  aucus  coe  puis  entedre  | 

Que  balade  ait  refrain  et  trois  coupletz  semblables  > 

Et  le  prince  sis  les  vers  point  repredre 

Lesquelles  croisent  desgales  lignes  sortables  "  "; 

Sig.  b.  iiij.  recto 

Balada  retrograda 

"  Constellation  nous  produit 
Refection  dhumain  engin  t 

Jeunesse  ne  quiert  que  deduit 

Chascun  doit  craidre  mal  engin  1 

Sans  corde  file  ne  engin 
Notet  et  preignet  sans  leuriers 

Ces  prouerbes  les  manouuriers  \ 

Soit  de  colericque  ou  sanguin  i 

Plus  sont  de  maistres  que  douuriers  j 

A  rimer  maint  cueur  se  reduit  \ 

Tant  sur  coefe  que  sur  beguin 
Ou  sur  mot  ou  sens  mieulx  se  duit 
Sur  clerc  sur  lourt  ou  sur  bourdin** 


Doultrecuidez  se  meslent  dautres  mestiers 
Puis  lors  que  dit  Ion  dung  badin 
Plus  sont  de  maistres  que  douuriers 
La  science  sabatardit 
De  rethoricque  sans  latin 
Quant  de  rimer  chascun  en  dit 

48  Two  lines  missing. 


THEORY   OF   THE   BALLADE  181 

A  plaisir:  soit  soir  ou  matin 

Lon  rime  chien  centre  matin 

Chascun  sen  mesle  en  tons  quartiers 

Dieux  que  de  nouueaulx  charpentiers 

De  rimer  chascun  tatin 

Plus  sont  de  maistres  que  douuiers." 

Balada  per  dyalogum 

"Ha  maistre  alain  quoy  qui  mapelle 
Cest  moy:  tu  qui:  cest  linfortune:  las 
Que  te  fault  il :  las  lon  rue  a  la  pelle 
Rethoricque:  voire  dis  tu:  helas 
Oy  qui  fait  ce :  Aucune  diceulx  ia  las 
Ou  ne  scauent.     Est  il  vray  tu  te  gales 
Mais  en  quel  lieu  ou  en  festes  ou  en  gales 
Est  il  certain :  oy  benedicite 
Vous  perdres  bruit  pour  telz  cimbales 
Boute  chouque  si  est  ressuscite. 

Reuit  il  dieux:  oy.     Quelle  vielle 
Comment:  ne  scay.  tais  toy  cu  songes  las 
Sauf  vostre  honneur.    Non  dea  quel  kirielle 
Mais  ou  en  galans  saillans  en  voz  las 
Puis  en  font  ilz  de  bons  biens :  cest  solas 
Quoy  nettemet  come  vng  autre  en  brimbales 
Dis  tu:  sans  voz  couleurs  rethoricales 
Voir  est  ce  tout.    Nest  ce  pas  bien  dicte 
Pour  le  commun :  quen  ties  tu.  quen  tregales 
Boute  chouque  si  est  ressuscite. 

Cest  vng  grant  cas :  si  est  ce  grant  nouuelle 
Comme  rime  il :  en  beaux  termes  tous  plas 
Cest  rigole  contrepaye  est  telle 
Ou  se  fait  el.  tant  sur  potz  que  sur  plas 
En  beau  goret,  oneques  mieulx  naeouplas 
Aumoins  pieca  bon  nota  de  cancales 


182  THE  BALLADE 

Donnez  leur:  quoy  pour  loyer  deux  escales 
Ou  masure  pour  leur  habilite 
Dea  sanf  farcer  pourquoy  car  en  gringales 
Boute  chouque  si  est  ressuscite. 

Prince  notez.  quoy :  ce  present  libelle 
De  qui  de  quoy  de  iourdain  qui  la  belle 
Pour  ses  deux  blans  gardez  diuersite 
A  quoy  faire  pour  cause  telle  quelle 
Boute  chouque  si  est  ressuscite." 

H.     Traits  de  Bhetorique*^ 
Vers  Septains 

"  Pluseurs  vers  qui  sont  septains 
Sont  a  le  fois  pour  chanssons 
Que  chantent  les  gens  mondains, 
Et  se  font  de  telz  fassons. 
Or  regardons  se  sont  bons 
Pour  resconforter  malades 
Souvent  on  en  fait  balades. 

Vers  Witains  Et  Coppes. 

"  On  dit  couplet 
Ou  vers  witain 
Quant  il  est  fait 
De  bone  main 
Et  qu'il  est  plain 

*9The  author  of  the  Traite  de  BhStorique  (1490?;  1500?),  like 
L 'Inf ortun^,  defines  a  form  by  means  of  the  form  itself.  It  is  im- 
possible, since  the  exact  date  of  neither  is  known,  to  say  who  orig- 
inated the  method.  The  TraitS  is  not  a  complete  seconde  rhetorique, 
but  is  intended  only  to  instruct  some  friend  of  the  author  who  wished 
to  poetize.  The  treatise  gives  isolated  haXlade  stanzas  but  says  noth- 
ing about  the  structure  of  the  whole  bcUlade.  Much  of  the  stuff  is 
pure  doggerel. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  183 


De  rime  sade. 
S'il  a  refrain 
II  est  ballade."5« 


Vers  Dizains  de  .x.  Pies  et  De  .x.  Lignes  j 

"  Vers  de  .x.  pies  de  .x.  lignes  rimes  j 
Sont  vers  dizains,  deroisies  en  ce  point. 
Es  balades  sont  il  souvent  trouves, 
Quant  le  refrain  leur  est  donne  a  point. 

Mais  touteffois  oublier  ne  fault  point  i 

A  faire  arrest  et  poser  au  quart  piet,  | 

Car  aultrement  il  seroit  reprochiet  \ 

C'est  balade  quant  il  porte  refrain,  | 

Et  a  le  fois  enlachiet  et  croisiet,  i 

Ne  plus  ne  mains  que  s'il  fut  vers  douzain."*^^  ^ 

Nota 

"  On  treuve  balade  souvant  j 
De  .v.  pies,  de  .vj.  et  de  sept, 

De  .viij.,  de  dix  communement,  ! 

De  .ix.,  ne  .xij.,  nul  n'en  scet.  ] 


Pluseurs  balades  baladans 
Virlais,  fatras  d'aultre  fachon 
Ont  en  leur  ait  les  biens  rimans, 
Dont  point  je  ne  fais  mension. 
Se  j'en  dis  mon  entention, 
Pardonnes  moy  se  j'ay  failly; 
Je  n*ay  faict  ce  traictiet  se  non 
Pour  aprendre  ung  mien  amy."" 

50  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  257. 
61  Ibid.,  Opus  at.,  p.  261. 
52  Ibid.,  Opus  at.,  p.  264. 


184  THE  BALLADE 

I.   Pierre  Fabri :  Le  Grand  et  Vrai  Art  de  Pleine 
Rhetorique 

**  Ballades  se  font  de  huyt  lignes  pour  clause  et  huyt 
syllabes  en  masculin  pour  ligne.  Et  doibuent  estre  trois 
clauses  de  semblable  lisiere  ou  rithme  et  semblable  reffrain 
pour  derniere  ligne,  lequel  doibt  estre  masculin  avec  demye 
clause  de  semblable  ou  aultre  lisiere  au  quattre  dernieres 
lignes,  qui  s'appelle  I'enuoy,  ou  le  prince,  pource  que,  en 
tenant  le  puy  de  ballades,  voluntiers  ledict  enuoy  se  adrece 
ou  enuoye  au  prince.  Et  disent  aulcuns  qu'il  n'est  point 
necessaire,  ne  aussi  I'enuoy  d'vng  champ  royal,  veu  que 
Ten  y  peult  changer  lisiere.  Mais  la  coustume  plus  com- 
mune c'est  qui  sont  de  I'essence  de  ballade  et  de  champ 
royal,  et  doibuent  en  puy  estre  de  semblable  lisiere,  et  se, 
par  eulx  a  redicte,  ilz  sont  a  reffuser.  Aulcuns  font  bal- 
lades et  lignes  de  dix  syllabes  en  masculin,  et  les  aultres 
prennent  deux  lignes  pour  reffrain  et  se  peuent  layer,  retro- 
grader  en  tant  de  manieres  que  I'acteur  trouuera  de  suauite 
en  son  ordonnance ;  mais  s'il  excede  huyt  lignes  et  huyt  syl- 
labes, ce  n'est  plus  ballade,  et  ceulx  de  dix  syllabes  s'ap- 
pellent  bastars  de  champ  royal  ou  demy  champ  royal,  bal- 
lade quant  ilz  changent  lisiere  en  la  cinquiesime  ou  sixiesme 
ligne,  comme  sont  les  XXV  ballades  de  Meschinot  enuoyees 
a  George  1 'Auanturier,  et  celles  de  maistre  Alain  que  sont 
au  Breuiaire  des  nobles.  Et  differe  ballade  a  reffrain  bran- 
lant,  pource  que  en  ballade  les  IIII  et  V  lignes  sont  de 
semblabe  lisiere  et  terminaison,  et  le  reffrain  branlant 
change,  et  si  a  VI  ou  VIII  couplectz  sans  prince,  et  ne  sont 
point  les  clauses  de  semblable  lisiere.  "°^ 


53  A.  H6ron,  Le  Grand  et  Vrai  Art  de  Pleine  Rhetorique  de  Pierre 
Fdbri  (Rouen,  1890),  Second  Livre,  pp.  87-88.  Fabri  quotes  here 
L'Infortun6's  verse  definition  of  the  tallade. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  185             ] 

.i 

"  Frere  Oliuier  Maillart :  ' 

Seigneurs,  qui  les  grans  biens  auez  j 

Pour  seruir  la  chose  publique,  ■ 

Prelatz  et  clercs  les  droitz  sQauez,  i 

Gens  qui  menez  vie  lubrique,  j 

De  voz  pechez  et  voye  oblique  \ 

Vous  rendrez  conte  et  reliqua,  * 

Ou  serez  dampnez  sans  replique,  | 

M'arme,  il  n'y  a  ne  sy  ne  qua.  : 

Gorgyas  basteurs  de  pauez,  i 

Bourgoys,  marchans,  gens  de  practique, 

Femmes  qui  vos  faces  lauez 

Et  pour  intention  inique  ^ 

Fringuez  bien  en  forme  autentique,  ! 

Le  diable  qui  vous  prouoqua 

En  fin  pour  vous  auoir  s'applique.  \ 

M'arme,  il  n'y  a,  etc.  '■ 

Tricherres  qui  Pautruy  debuez,  i 

Gens,  nobles,  gens  d'art  mecanique,  ^ 

Leuez  tons  les  testes,  leuez, 

Vous  vous  dampnez,  raison  I'explique.  i 

Vous  yrez  au  Dieu  pacifique 

Qui  oncques  pecheur  ne  mocqua,  ! 

Ou  au  logis  diabolique.  | 

M'arme,  il  n'y  a  ne  sy  ne  qua. 

Enuoy  j 

Prince,  redempteur  magnifique  \ 

Qui  d'enfer  Adam  reuoqua,  ' 
Se  par  toy  n'auons  pais  vnique, 

M'arme,  il  n'y  a  ne  sy  ne  qua."^* 

'i 

**Septains  different  a  ballade,  pource  qu'ilz  sont  sept  \ 
lignes,  et  ballade  est  de  huyt.  .  .  .  Les  Picars  apprennent  les 

ballades  que  sont  d'autant  de  lignes  qu'il  y  a  de  syllabes  au  j 

54  A.  Heron,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  89-90.  ' 


186  THE   BALLADE 

pallinode;  mais,  se  il  passe  huyt  en  masculin  et  neuf  en 
feminin,  ce  n'est  plus  ballade. 

' '  Item,  ilz  font  difference  entre  commune  et  ballade  balla- 
dant'  qu^ilz  appellent  batelee  en  la  quarte  syllabe,  c'est  a 
dire  que  toute  ligne  de  dix  ou  de  vnze  doibt  auoir  couppe 
en  mot  complet  et  masculin,  comme  il  est  diet  de  champ 
royal. 

Ballade  antique  de  dix  syllabes  en  masculin : 

"  Quant  vous  verrez  les  princes  recuUer 
Et  les  riches  estre  en  division ; 
Quant  vous  verrez  les  sages  aceuller 
Pour  soustenir  police  et  vnion ; 
Quant  les  flatteurs  par  leur  sedition 
Informeront  les  seigneurs  au  contraire; 
Quant  en  croirta  des  folz  Toppinion, 
Tenez  vous  seurs  qu'aurez  beaucoup  a  faire. 

[Two  other  stanzas  given.] 

Prince,  pour  Dieu  ayez  affection 
D'entretenir  la  iustice  ordinaire, 
Ou  aultrement  et  pour  conclusion 
Tenez  vous  seurs,  etc." 

Uen  f  aict  aussi  des  ballades  a  paige  ou  layees,  Comme  cy : 

"  Fleur  de  beaulte  gracieuse, 

Precieuse, 
Gente  d'honneur  excellente, 
Viue  face  sumpteuse, 

Verteuse, 
Blanche  dame  et  nouvelle  ente."" 

J.     L^Art  et  Science  de  Rhetorique  Vulgaire 
Autre  Reigle 
**  Encores  autre  taille  de  dix  lignes  se  treuvent,  la  quelle 
est  bonne  a  faire  ballades  de  dix  mettres,  selon  le  refrain  de 
85  A.  H6ron,  Opus  Cit,  pp.  91-93. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  187 

dix  sillabes,  comme  icy  appert  par  ung  article  d*une  double 
ballade  de  feu  maistre  Jehan  Le  Mayre : 

Exemple 

"  Cent  ans  a  creu ;  tout  se  paye  en  une  heure. 
II  est  escript  par  ung  noble  chapitre: 
Qui  feu  nourrit  pour  meetre  en  autruy  feurre, 
Finer  par  feu  doibt  tel  pervers  ministre. 
De  trahison  tons  enfans  de  trahistre 
Sont  entachez,  soit  en  taille  ou  en  fonte. 
Tel  f  ut  Enee  et  Anthenor  en  compte ; 
Telz  estes  vous  leurs  successeurs  encore. 
Mais  le  bon  droit  la  malice  surmonte. 
Or  est  Priam  bien  venge  de  Anthenor.^® 

''Autre  maniere  de  ryme  se  treuve  de  onze  lignes,  de  la 
quelle  communement  on  fait  ballades  ou  chantz  royaulx, 
selon  et  en  ensuyvant  le  refrain  qui  est  feminin  et  de  onze 
sillabes,  comme  il  appert: 

Exemple^"^ 

"Artaxerses,  plein  de  gloyre  et  faeunde, 
Jadis  monstrant  ses  triumphes  royaulx, 
Fit  ung  convy  d'opulence  fecunde 
Aux  princes  siens,  gentz  et  subjects  loyaulx. 
Vasty  la  royne,  habondante  en  richesses, 
Tint  court  planiere  aux  dames  et  duchesses 
Adoneq  el  roy,  pour  plus  fort  s'esjouyr, 
Voult  que  a  luy  vint,  mais  il  n'en  sceut  jouyr; 
Lors  couronna  Hester,  vierge  opportune, 
Puys  decreta  et  fit  par  tout  ouyr 
La  loy  de  mort  condempnant  tous  fors  une.''^ 

56  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  277,  says  that  this  is  the  second  stanza  of 
a  double  ballade  in  the  L^gende  de  Venitiens  of  Jean  Lemaire. 

57  The  first  stanza  of  a  chant  royal  given  later  in  the  same  treatise. 

58  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  277-278. 


188  THE   BALLADE 

^^Sensuyvent  Les  Reigles  de  Balades  et  Chant z  Royaux. 

Ballade  commune  doibt  avoir  refrain  et  troys  cnpletz,  et 
1 'envoy ;  dont  le  refrain  tire  la  substance  de  la  ballade.  Et 
doibt  chascun  couplet  par  rigueur  d'examen  avoir  autant  de 
lignes  que  le  refrain  contient  de  sillabes. 

De  huyt  sillabes. 
' '  Se  le  refrain  a  huyt  sillabes  et  la  derreniere  est  parf aicte 
et  masculine,  la  ballade  doibt  tenir  forme  de  vers  huytains. 

De  neuf  sillabes, 
'  *  Se  le  refrain  a  neuf  sillabes  et  la  derreniere  est  feminine 
et  imparfaicte,  les  coupletz  doibvent  avoir  neuf  lignes,  dont 
les  quartres  premieres  se  croysent,  et  la  .v®.,  .vj®.  et  .viij®., 
sont  de  pareilles  terminations  et  ryme  differente  aux  quatre 
premieres  lignes  croysees  et  la  septiesme  et  neuvfiesme  con- 
sonantes  en  ryme  et  differantes  de  toutes  les  autres. 

De  Dix  sillabes. 
**Se  le  reffrain  a  dix  sillabes,  les  coupletz  de  la  ballade 
sont  de  dix  lignes ;  mais  il  fault  que  la  derreniere  sillabe  de 
la  ligne  dudit  refrain  soit  en  ryme  masculine  et  parf  aicte ; 
des  quelles  dix  lignes  les  quatres  premieres  se  croysent,  la  .v®. 
pareille  a  la  .iiij®.,  la  .vi®.,  .vij®.  et  .ix®.  de  pareille  termina- 
tion differante  a  celle  de  la  croysure,  et  la  .viij®.  et  .x®. 
egalles  en  ryme  et  consonance  distinctes  de  toutes  les  autres. 

De  Onze  sillabes. 

* '  Se  le  refrain  a  onze  sillabes,  dont  la  derreniere  est  fem- 
inine et  imparfaicte,  les  coupletz  auront  onze  lignes,  des 
quelles  les  quatre  premieres  se  croysent,  la  .v*.  et  .vj*. 
pareilles  et  d 'autre  ryme;  la  .vij®.,  .viij®.,  et  .x*.  egalles  en 
consonance  et  differante  aux  premieres;  et  la  .ix®.  et  .xj". 


THEORY  OF  THE  BALLADE  189 

aussi  de  pareille  termination  et  differante  a  toutes  les 
autres. 

Be  L'Envoy 

*  *  II  est  a  noter  que  tout  envoy,  qui  se  commance  par  Prince, 
a  les  mesme  refrain  des  coupletz;  mais  il  ne  contient  que 
einq  lignes  tout  au  plus  es  coupletz  de  dix  et  onze  sillabes, 
et  prend  ses  terminations  et  rymes  sur  les  cinq  derrenieres 
lignes  desditz  coupletz;  et  se  ilz  n'ont  que  huyt  ou  neuf 
lignes,  les  rymes  de  Tenvoy  se  feront  sur  le  quatres  der- 
renieres lignes  d'iceulx  coupletz. 

* '  Exemple  de  huyt  lignes  les  coupletz  et  de  huyt  sillabes  le 
refrain  se  monstrera  en  une  double  ballade  cy  apres  ensuy- 
vant,  qui  se  commance  ainsi : 

Le  roy  Francois  chevaleureux,  etc. 
Exemple  de  neuf  sillabes 

"  Suys  je  pas  le  plus  malheureux 
Qui  soit  vivant  dessus  la  terre, 
De  veoir  Ennuy  de  douloureux, 
Aecourir  sus  moy  si  grand  erre? 
Helas!  ce  cas  dur  et  amer 
Est  seullement  pour  trop  aymer 
Une  tres  belle  et  jeune  dame; 
Dont  voy  qu'il  est  a  presumer 
Par  amour  on  reQoit  maint  blasme. 

[Two  other  stanzas  given.] 

Prince,  on  me  debvroit  assommer, 
Puys  que  j'ay  fait  moy  mesme  infame, 
Car  je  voy  pour  me  consommer 
Par  amour  on  re^oit  maint  blasme. 

Exemple  de  dix  sillabes 

[None  given.] 


190  THE  BALLADE 

"Exemple  de  onze  lignes  les  coupletz  et  onze  sillabes  le 
refrain  se  verra  en  ung  chant  royal  cy  apres  ensuyvant  et 
commenQant : 

Artaxerses,  plain  de  gloire  et  f  aconde,  etc.*^" 
**Et  n'y  a  autre  difference,  sinon  que  le  chant  royal  est 

fait  de  cing  coupletz  et  I'envoy,  et  la  ballade  n'en  a  que 

troys  et  I'envoy. 

**En  vers  alexandrins  se  peult  aussi  faire  ballade,  les 

coupletz  de  douze  lignes,  et  le  refrain  de  douze  sillabes, 

combien  que  n'en  aye  encores  veu. 

Exemple 

"  Si  jadis  le  dicu  Mars  eut  des  filz  belliqueux 
Es  granctz  et  noble  Greez,  es  Troyans  f ortz  et  preux ; 
Et  es  prudents  Rommains,  puissans  d'antiquite, 
Au  temps  present  en  Gaulle  en  est  de  vertueux. 
Adextres  et  hardiz,  si  qu'  en  faietz  sumptueux, 
Aulcun  d'eulx,  pour  mourir,  n'a  les  armes  quicte. 
On  en  voit  toute  France  ennoblie  et  tres  seure 
Par  le  nombre  alie  des  princes  qui  Fasseure, 
Dont  I'eslite  et  perle  est  un  ung  prince  frangoys, 
Franc,  begnin,  saige  et  jeune  et  de  belle  stature, 
Qui  tousjours  a  le  cueur,  de  vertus  nourriture, 
Le  myeulx  ayme  de  tons  et  I'espoir  de  Frangoys. 

[Two  other  stanzas  given.] 

Prince,  f  aiz  nous  ce  bien  que  jusque  a  cent  ans  dure 
Ce  riche  et  beau  joyau,  pur  et  nect,  sans  laidure, 
Qui,  comme  hoir,  garde  et  tient,  de  mont  et  de  val,  loix ; 
Garde  le,  s'il  te  plaist,  d'infortune  trop  dure. 
Car  seul  nous  le  tenons,  et,  s'il  luy  plaist,  Fendure 
Le  myeulx  ayme  de  tons  et  I'espoir  de  Frangoys."® 

B»  See  p.  187  above. 

«o  By  the  author  of  the  treatise. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  191 

"Ballade  balladant  tient  termes  de  ballade,  commune,  fors 
qu'elle  est  bastellee  a  la  quatriesme  et  cinquiesme  sillabes 
en  certaines  lignes  de  la  quadrure ;  car  en  toutes  lignes  de 
dix  ou  de  onze  sillabes,  soit  en  ballade,  rondeau  ou  autre 
taille,  tousjours  la  quatriesme  sillabe  en  masculin  ou  la  cin- 
quiesme en  feminin  et  singulier  nombre,  qui  fait  la  qua- 
drure, doibt  estre  de  mettre  complet,  et  avoir  sentence 
en-tiere,  et  fault  illecq  reposer  en  pronunQant.  Et  autant 
es  vers  alexandrins  s'en  doibt  faire  en  la  sixiesme  sillabe 
masculine  et  en  la  septiesme  feminine,  qui  fait  la  quadrure, 
comme  plus  a  plain,  et  declaire  et  par  exemple  monstre  au 
commancement  de  cest  oeuvre,  en  la  dilucidation  et  exposi- 
tion du  parfaict  ou  masculin  et  le  I'imparfaict  ou  feminin. 
Toutesvoyes  encore,  ainsi  que  dit  est,  le  coupletz  de  ceste 
forme  de  ballade  doib[vent]  contenir  autant  de  lignes 
comme  le  refrain  a  de  sillabes. 

Exemple 
"  Juifz  ont  dit  que  nostre  redemption."^^ 

* '  Ballade  f  atrisee  ou  gemelle  sont  deux  ballades  communes 
tellement  ordonnees  et  entrelacees  ensemble  que  le  com- 
mancement de  I'une  donne  refrain  a  I'autre.  Et  se  peuent 
faire  et  composer  de  quelque  quantite  et  nombre  de  sillabes 
que  I'acteur  vouldra,  en  y  observant  les  reigle,  dessusdictes 
en  forme  de  ballades. 

Exemple 

"Le  roy  FranQois,  chevaleureux, 
Doue  de  tous  dons  de  nature, 
Est  a  pied  et  cheval  heureux, 
Franc,  fort,  de  vertus  desireux, 

«i  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  294-298.  This  same  tallade  is  given  in 
Molinet's  treatise. 


192  THE   BALLADE 

Moult  aymant  justice  et  droicture; 
Par  quoy  sus  toute  creature 
Gloire  il  a,  car  par  ses  haultz  f  aictz 
Ses  ennemys  sont  tous  deffaitz. 

Ses  ennemys  sont  tous  deffaitz 
Et  est  leur  puissance  abolie; 
Bien  ont  congneu  par  vilz  effectz 
Les  lasches  tours  qu'ilz  avoient  f  aitz  ; 
Car  sont  puniz  de  leur  folie, 
Lors  n'eurent  que  melencolie, 
Quant  si  pres  virent  entour  eulx 
Le  roy  Frangois,  chevaleureux. 

[Four  other  stanzas  given.] 

Prince  entretiens  tousjours  Farmeure 
De  prudence,  par  bon  art  meure, 
Au  roy,  puys  que  publier  faiz; 
Ses  ennemeys  sont  tous  deffaiz."^ 

K.  Gracien   du   Pont:   Art   et   Science   de   Bhetorique 

Metrifiee. 

fol.  49-50«3 

Quest  ce  que  Ballades 

''Nous  auos  souuet  dessus  parle,  des  Ballades  et  des  Chaps 
royaulx.  Toutesfoys  nauos  encores  declaire  quest  ce  que 
Ballade,  &  quest  ce  que  Chap  royal. 

Premieremet  debuez  noter  q  ballade  nest  aultre  chose,  q 
troys  coupletz  a  ung  mesme  reffrain,  avec  Leuoy  qui  porte 
pareil  reffrain  que  lesd  coupletz.  Et  pour  bie  entendre 
quest  ce  q  Enuoy,  ce  n'est  que  vng  sommaire  de  fin  &  coclu- 
sion  quant  au  sens,  qui  ne  doibt  estre  en  nobre  &  mesure  de 

62  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  300-301. 

63  The  references  are  to  the  edition  printed  in  1539  at  Toulouse. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  193 

lignes,  que  le  moytie  de  lung  desd  troys  coupletz.  Et  ce 
debuez  entendre  de  la  derniere  moytie  dudict  couplet,  no  de 
la  premiere.  Laqlle  moytie  se  prend  apres  la  premiers 
clause  parfaicte  faisant  couplet  parfaict,  coe  auons  dessus 
diet.  Cest  a  scauoir  en  Rithme  platte,  ou  croysee,  despuys 
les  quatre  premieres  lignes,  &  en  rithme  riche  despuys  les 
six  dictes.  Apres  lesqlles  pouez  chager  de  croyseure  & 
facos  en  mainctes  sortes  pour  faire  couplet  double.  Coe 
verrez  en  mains  lieux  dessoubz  alleguez  composez  par  diuers 
Autheurs.  Et  notez  que  de  riguer  dudict  art  /  chascu 
couplet  doibt  auoir  aultant  de  lignes,  hors  mys  ledict  Enuoy, 
q  le  reffrain  a  de  syllabes.  Toutesfoys,  nest  telle  rigeur 
obseruee,  &  gardee,  ains  se  practique  au  plaisir  de  coposeur, 
coe  voyez  toutz  les  iours  par  exeples.  Pourueu  que  en 
mesure,  ny  quatitez  de  lignes  ne  soit  excede  le  nobre  de 
douz  lignes  coe  avons  diet.  Et  sachez  aussi  que  les  coupletz 
des  Ballades  ne  doibuent  estre  hors  mys  ledict  Enuoy,  de 
moins  de  lignes,  que  de  sept,  copris  ledict  reffrain,  de  moins 
ne  seroyt  Ballade  ains  coupletz  a  reffrain,  ne  meritanz  por- 
ter le  nom  de  Ballades.  Et  pose  quilz  portet  n5bre  compe- 
tent, selon  nostre  aduys,  si  tous  lesdictz  coupletz  ne  sont 
vnissones,  aussi  ne  merite  estre  dicte  Ballade.  Combien  que 
soyent  plusiers  au  cotraire.  Vous  trouuerez  de  Ballades 
en  forme  deue  en  maictz  &  duiers  lieux.  Et  audict  liure 
des  Cotrouerses,  toutes  sont  vnissones.  Et  premieremet,  au 
fueillet  .ij.  tourne,  vne  a  .ix.  lignes.  Vne  aultre  au  fueillet 
.iij.  tourne  a  .x.  lignes,  coronee.  Au  feuillet  .vj.  tourne,  vne 
enchaisnee,  a  .viij.  lignes,  au  fueillet  .xj.  vne  coronnee  a  dix 
lignes,  au  fueillet  .xlix.  tourne,  vne  batellee  a  .x.  lignes,  au 
fueillet  .liiij.  vne  emperiere,  a  .viij.  lignes,  au  fueillet  tourne, 
vne  aultre  emperiere,  par  enquiuocs  mariez  a  .viij.  lig.  au 
fueillet  .Iv.  vne  coronnee  &  batellee  a  seblables  corones  a  .vij. 
lignes,  au  fueillet  .lix.  vne  batellee  a  .viij.  lignes,  au  fueillet 
•Ix.  tourne  vne  par  equiuocques  a  .x.  lignes,  au  fueillet 
14 


194  ,  THE  BALLADE 

.Ixvij.  tourne,  vne  latinisee  a  .x.  lignes,  au  fueillet  .Ixxviij. 
vne  a  .x.  lignes,  au  fueillet  .Ixxviij.  vne  a  .x.  lignes,  au 
fueillet  .Ixxxij.  tourne,  Vne  par  equiuocqs  a  .x.  lignes, 
au  fueillet  .cxix.  vne  batelle  a  .xij.  lignes.  Ite  aulx  fueilletz 
.cxxvij.  &  .cxx.  .vij.  troys  suyuates  a  double  sens  a  .viij. 
lignes  au  fueillet  .clxxviij.  tourne,  vne  eoronee,  &  batellee 
a  .viij.  lignes. 

Notez  que  despuys  le  nobre  de  .vij.  lig.  inclusivement, 
jusq  a  douze,  se  peuet  faire  Ballades.  Et  quant  aulx  coup- 
letz,  il  ny  en  doibt  auoir  que  troys,  &  Leuoy.  Aultremet 
me  seroyt  Ballade  ains  chap  royal." 

Fol.  Hi  verso 

**Des  mesdisans  des  rithmes  graues,  &  subtilles  de  termes. 

.  .  .  Mays  quelq  chose  quilz  saichent  dire,  quant  elles 
sont  bien  faictes,  soit  en  Ballade  vnisonne.  Et  mesmement 
eoronee  par  equiuocques,  Emperiere,  ou  aultre,  est  plus 
riche,  &  digne  destre  mieulx  prisee,  que  cet,  ne  mille  des- 
dictz  aultres  bas  stilles.  Et  auront  lesdietz  grossiers  igno- 
rantz,  plustost  faictes  cent,  voyre  mille  Ballades  de  leurs 
maternelz  patoys,  &  prineipes  dapprentys,  que  vne  bone 
Ballade  desdictz  haultz  stilles,  qui  ne  se  laissent  digerer  en 
lestomac  de  toutes  gens. ' ' 

"II  fault  presuppose,  que  ceulx  qui  font  vne  bonne  ballade 
des  dictz  haultz  stilles  peneux  &  subtilz,  quilz  en  ferot  bien 
vne  planiere  &  grossiere.  Vng  home  qui  scait  lyre  le  Pater 
noster,  &  toutes  aultres  escriptures,  tant  de  main  que  de 
Impression  scauroit  bien  lyre  le  A,  B,  C.  Et  scait  bien 
espeler  &  assembler  les  lettres  en  syllabes,  &  dictions.  Nous 
ne  voullons  poinct  soubstenir  q  quant  vne  desdicts  especes 
graues  ne  seroyt  de  bone  mesure,  de  bon  sens,  &  seroit 
viceuse,  fust  plus  estimee  que  vne  bonne  Ballade  simple  a 
bon  sens  &  termes  sans  aulcu  vice." 


THEORY   OP   THE  BALLADE  195 

The  varieties  of  hallades  that  appear  in  du  Font's  Con- 
traverses  are  given  below : 

Ballade  unissone  a  IX  lignes  et  dix  syllabes. 

Ballade  dyaloguee  a  VIII  syllabes  et  X  lignes. 

Ballade  unissone  par  dizains. 

Ballade  unisonne  batellee  a  X  syllabes. 

Ballade  unissone  leonine  et  batellee  a  II  terminaisons 
tant  seullement  a  dizains. 

Ballade  unissone  par  termes  scabreulx  et  latinisez  a 
dizaine. 

Ballade  unissone  et  batellee  a  XII  lignes. 

Ballade  unissone  par  equivocques  a  dix  syllabes  et  X 
lignes. 

Ballade  unissone  a  doubles  equivocques. 

Ballade  unissone  coronnee  par  equivocques  a  dizains. 

Ballade  unissone  par  vers  enchaisnez  equivocquez. 

Ballade  unissone  coronnee  par  equivocques  mariez  en  la 
premiere  terminaison  ou  sont  accordez  deux  contraires  cest 
le  plurier  avec  le  singulier  et  le  masculin  avec  le  feminin : 
car  la  teste  est  masculin  et  pluriere  et  la  coronne  feminine 
et  singuliere  a  dizains. 

Ballade  unissone  coronnee  par  equivoques  et  batellee  par 
coronez  equivocquez. 

Ballade  unissone  batellee  et  coronnee  par  double  coronne 
equivocquee  chascune  ligne  portant  son  equivocque  aultre- 
ment  dicte  emperiere. 

Ballade  unissone  batellee  par  termes  deonismes  riches 
hors  mys  le  refrain  et  son  subject  coronnee  a  deux  coronnes 
par  coronnez  mariez  dicte  emperiere  par  equivocques  tante 
le  masculin  que  le  feminin. 

Ballade  unissone  coronnee  par  equivocques  et  batellee  par 
semblables  coronnes  equivocquees,  autrement  dicte  coronnee 
par  equivocques  redoublez  en  laquelle  est  coronne  le  refrain. 

Ballade  unissone  a  double  sens  retrogradee  en  diverses 


196  THE   BALLADE 

fagons  dont  en  lysant  toute  la  ligne  dit  mal  des  femmes 
aussy  en  la  lysant  au  rebours  mot  a  mot.  Et  ne  lysant  que 
line  moytie  de  chascun  quartier  que  vous  vouldrez  dit  bien 
desdites  femmes  tant  le  lysant  en  hault  que  en  bas. 

Ballade  unissone  a  double  sens  et  de  mesme  sorte  que  la 
dessus  quant  a  lestille,  mays  eontraire  a  lautre  devant  car 
en  lysant  toute  la  ligne  dit  bien  des  femmes  et  les  moytiez 
en  disent  mal. 

Ballade  unissone  de  mesme  stille  que  les  dessus  dictes, 
sauf  que  en  lysant  toute  la  ligne  dit  bien  des  femmes  et  de 
moytiez  lune  dit  mal  et  lautre  bien  desdictes  femmes  par- 
ainey  toutes  les  troys  susdictes  ballades  sont  differentes 
Tune  de  I'autre,  combien  que  soyent  d'ung  mesme  stille  et 
de  retrogradent  d'une  sorte.^* 

L.     Thomas  Sibilet :  Art  Poetique  Frangois 

"La  Balade  est  Poeme  plus  graue  que  nul  des  precedens 
[Sonnet  and  Rondeau],  pour  ce  que  de  son  origine  s'adres- 
soit  aux  Princesses  et  ne  traitoit  que  materes  graves  et 
dignes  de  Taureille  dVn  roi.  Auec  le  temps  empireur  de 
toutes  choses,  les  Poetes  FranQoys  Tout  adaptee  a  matieres 
plus  legeres  et  facecieuses,  en  sorte  qu'auiourd'  huy  la 
matiere  de  la  Balade  est  toute  telle  qu'il  plaist  a  celuy  qui 
en  est  autheur.  Si  est  elle  neantmoins  moins  propre  a 
facecies  et  legeretez. 

"Sa  forme  est  telle  quelle  eontient  trois  coupletz  entiers, 
et  vn  epilogue  communement  appelle  Enuoy.  Les  trois 
coupletz  doyuent  auoir  tous  autant  de  vers  les  vns  comme 
les  autres,  et  unisones  en  ryme :  car  s'ilz  sont  de  different 
son,  ia  la  bonne  part  de  la  grace  que  doit  la  Balade,  est 
esgaree.  Le  nombre  des  vers  en  chasque  couplet  est  huit- 
tain  ou  dizain,  par  foys  septain  ou  vnzain.  .  .  .  L 'enuoy  ou 

6*  Gracien  du  Pont,  Les  Controverses  des  Sexes  MascuUn  et  Femi- 
nin,  Tholoze,  1534. 


THEORY  OF   THE  BALLADE  197 

epilogue  mesure  le  nombre  de  ses  vers  a  la  forme  du  couplet : 
ear  si  le  couplet  est  huictain,  I'Enuoy  sera  quatrain.  Se  le 
couplet  ha  dis  vers,  I'epilogue  en  aura  cinq  plus  commune- 
ment:  aulcuns  foys  sept.  S'il  est  vnzain,  I'Enuoy  sera  icy 
de  cinq,  la  de  six,  ailleurs  de  sept  vers.  Et  si  le  couplet  a 
douze  vers,  comme  tu  en  trouueras,  en  aucunes  Balades  de 
Marot,  I'Enuoy  en  doit  auoit  sept  pour  legitime  proposi- 
tion. Voyla  quant  au  nombre  des  vers:  mais  quant  a  la 
ryme,  tu  entens  assez  dans  mon  auertissement,  qu'a  raison 
de  1 'analogic,  les  vers  de  I'Enuoy,  en  quelque  nombre  qu'ils 
soyent,  doyuent  resembler  en  son,  autant  des  derniers  du 
couplet,  qu  'ilz  sont  en  leur  nombre :  comme  si  1  'epilogue  a 
cinq  vers,  ces  cinq  doynent  estre  vnisones  aux  cinq  derniers 
de  chasque  couplet  precedent,  et  ainsi  en  plus  grand  nombre. 
Mais  sur  tout  fault  que  tu  anises  au  dernier  vers  du  premier 
couplet,  qu'on  appelle  Refrain,  pource  qu'il  repete  entier 
en  la  fin  de  chasque  couplet,  et  de  I'Enuoy  de  mesme. 
Repete  di-ie,  non  comme  au  Rondeau  simple  ou  double, 
auquel  la  repetition  du  vers  ou  hemistiche  est  abondante, 
c'est  a  dire  qu'elle  ne  diminue  point  le  nombre  des  vers 
autrement  requis  au  couplet,  ains  est  supernumeraire. 
Mais  en  la  Balade  le  refrain  repete  est  conte  pour  vn  des 
vers  constituans  le  couplet,  comme  tu  peuz  voir  en  ceste 
Balade  de  Marot : 

[Here  Sibilet  prints  Marot 's  ballade,  the  refrain  of  which 
is:  **Le  beau  Dauphin,  tant  desire  en  France."] 

"Tu  trouueras  d'autres  Balades  a  double  refrain,  I'vn 
repete  au  mylieu  du  couplet,  et  I'autre  a  la  fin:  comme  en 
la  Balade  de  Marot  a  Frere  Lubin:^^  et  ceste  maniere  de 
refrain  double,  est  autant  rare  que  plaisante.  La  Balade 
au  demourant  se  fait  de  vers  de  huit  et  dix  syllabes  mieux 
et  plus  communement.  Mais  tiens  tousiours  en  memoire 
ceste  regie  generalle,  qui  le  vers  de  huit  syllabes  est  ne 

«5  See  Chapter  V,  below,  p.  319,  and  the  present  chapter,  p.  206. 


198  THE   BALLADE 

seulement  pour  les  choses  legeres  et  plaisantes.  Note  con- 
sequemment  quant  au  fait  de  la  Balade,  que  sa  premier 
vertu  et  perfection  est,  quand  le  refrain  n'est  point  tire  par 
les  cheveux  pour  rentrer  en  fin  de  couplet :  mais  y  est  repete 
de  mesme  grace  et  connexion  que  je  t'ay  dit  au  chaptire 
precedent  estre  requise  a  la  reprise  du  Rondeau. 

"L'Enuoy  commence  quasi  tousiours  par  ce  mot,  Prince  si 
la  Balade  dresse  a  homme;  &  par  Princesse,  si  a  femme,  d'oii 
tu  peuz  cognoistre  la  maieste  et  pris  d'elle.  Cela  toutesfois 
n'est  tant  necessaire  que  tu  ne  trouues  en  beaucoup 
d'Enuoys  ces  mots  laissez  pour  autres  mieulx  a  propos  qui 
ayent  pareille  ou  meilleure  harmonic.  "^^ 

M.    Joachim  du  Bellay:  La  Deffence  et  Illustration  de 
Langice  Frangoyse 

"Ly  doncques,  et  rely  premierement,  (o  Poete  futur) 
fueillette  de  main  nocturne  et  journelle  les  exemplaires  grecz 
et  latins :  puis  me  laisse  toutes  ces  vielles  poesies  f rancoyses 
aux  Jeux  Floraux  de  Thoulouze  et  au  Puy  de  Rouan:^^ 
comme  rondeaux,  ballades,  vyrelaiz,  chantz,  royaux,  chan- 
sons, et  autres  telles  episseries,  qui  corrompent  legoust  de 
nostre  langue  et  ne  servent  si  non  a  porter  temoignage  de 
notre  ignorance.  "^^ 

N.     Barthelemy  Aneau :  Le  Qwintil  Horatian 

"Trop  dedaigneuse  est  ceste  exportation  de  laisser  les 
vieilles  poesies  aux  Floraux  de  Tholose  et  au  Puytz  de 
Rouan.  Par  laquelle  trop  superbe  dehortation  sont  indig- 
nement  et  trop  arrogament  deprisees  deux  tresnobles  choses. 

6«  Charles  Asselineau:  Livre  des  Ballades  (Paris,  1876),  pp.  171-174 
«7  See  Chapter  I. 

68  11.  Chamard,  Joachim  du  Bellay,  La  Defence  et  Illustration  de  la 
Langue  Francoyse  (Paris,  1904),  p.  201. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  199 

D'ont  Tune  est  rinstitution  ancienne  en  deux  tresbonnes 
villes  de  France  de  Thonneur  attribue  au  mieux  faisans, 
pour  I'entretien  eternal  de  la  poesie  frangoise,  jouxte  le 
proverbe:  Vhonneur  nourrit  les  ars.  Tel  que  jadis  fut  en 
Grece  es  Olynpiques,  et  a  Rome  es  jeux  publiques.  L 'autre 
est  1  'excellence  et  noblesse  de  noz  poemes  les  plus  beaux  et 
les  plus  artificielz,  comme  rondeaux,  balades,  chans  royaux, 
virlais,  lesquelz  tu  nommes,  par  terrible  translation,  es- 
picerie  corrumpant  le  goust:  qui  toutefois  en  toute  per- 
fection d'art  et  d 'invention  excedent  tes  beaux  sonnetz  et 
odes  (que  tu  nommes  ainsi)  desquelz  plus  amplement  cy 
apres  je  parleray.  Et  en  cest  endroit,  tu  ne  cognois,  ou  ne 
veux  cognoistre,  que  ces  nobles  poemes  sont  propres  et  pecu- 
liers  a  langue  francoise,  et  de  la  sienne  et  propre  et  antique 
invention.  Sinon  que  par  adventure  on  les  vousist  rap- 
porter  a  d'aucunes  formes  hebraiques  et  greques  es  Pro- 
phetes  et  en  Isocrat,  et  quelques  latines  en  Ciceron  et  orai- 
sons  et  en  Vergile  es  vers  intercalaires.  Ce  que  mesmes 
les  noms  de  ces  poemes  donnent  a  entendre.  Car  rondeau 
est  periode,  balade  est  nom  Grec,  chant  royal  est  carme 
heroique,  par  principale  denomination,  virlay  est  lyrique  ou 
la'ique,  c'est  a  dire  populaire.  Ce  que  ne  pensant  pas,  tu 
les  rejettes,  mesmement  les  virlais,  et  a  la  fin  ordonnes  les 
vers  lyriques,  qui  sont  tout  un  et  une  mesme  chose.  Mais 
ce  que  te  fais  les  depriser,  a  mon  avis  que  c'est  la  difficulte 
d'iceux  poemes,  qui  ne  sortent  jamais  de  povre  esprit,  et 
d'autant  sont  plus  beaux  que  de  difficile  facture,  selon  le 
proverbe  grec  ra  x^^^o.  KaXa,les  choses  difflcules  sont  belles. 
Tout  ainsi  comme  en  grec  et  latin  les  vers  exametres,  che- 
minans  a  deux  piedz  seulement,  sont  plus  nobles  et  plus 
beaux  que  les  trochai'ques  ou  iambiques  ou  comiques,  qui 
recoivent  plusieurs  piedz  indifferement  et  plus  a  I'aise. 
Pource  ne  blasme  point  ce  que  tant  est  louable,  et  ne  de- 
fendz  aux  autres  ce  que  tu  desperes  povoir  parfaire.     Et  ne 


200  THE   BALLADE 

dy  point  que  telz  poemes  ne  serve  sinon  a  porter  tes- 
moignage  de  nostre  ignorance.  Car  au  contraire  par  excel- 
lence de  vers  et  ligatures,  nombreuse  multiplicite  de  caden- 
ces unisonnantes,  et  argute  rentree,  refrains  et  reprinses 
avec  la  majeste  de  la  chose  traitee,  et  epilogue  des  envoys, 
tesmoignent  la  magnificence  et  richesse  de  nostre  langue,  et 
la  noblesse  et  la  felicite  des  espritz  frangois,  en  cela  exce- 
dans  toute  les  poesies  vulgares.  Mais  pour  le  difficile  artifice 
et  elabouree  beaute  d'iceux  anciens  poemes,  tu  les  veux  estre 
laissez. '  '^^ 

''Sonnez  luy  Tantiquaille.  Tu  nouz  as  bien  induit  a 
laisser  le  blanc  pour  le  bis,  les  balades,  rondeaux,  virlaiz  et 
chans  royaux  pour  les  sonnetz,  invention  (comme  tu  dis) 
italienne.  Dequoy  (si  a  Dieu  plait)  ils  sont  beaucop  plus 
a  priser.  Et  certes  ils  sont  d'une  merveilleuse  invention 
(a  bien  les  consyderer)  et  tresdificile,  comme  d'un  huitain 
bien  libre,  a  deux  ou  trois  cadences  [rimes],  et  un  sizain,  a 
autant  d'unisonances  ou  croisees,  ou  entreposees  si  abondon- 
neement  et  deregleement,  qu  le  plus  souvent  en  cinq  vers 
sont  trois  rymes  diverses  et  la  ryme  du  premier  rendue 
finalement  au  cinquieme,  tellement  que  en  oyant  le  dernier, 
on  a  desja  perdu  le  son  et  la  memoire  de  son  premier  uni- 
sonant,  qui  est  desja  a  cinq  lieues  de  la.  Vela  una  brave 
poesie,  pour  en  mepriser  et  dedaigner  toutes  les  autres  ex- 
cellentes  frangoises,  si  conjointes  en  leurs  croisures  qu'elles 
ne  laissent  jamais  perdre  et  Icing  voller  le  son  de  leur 
compagne,  encore  demourant  en  I'oreille,  et  en  Ve  fenit^® 
plus  d'un  ver,  ou  deux  au  plus,  et  ce  en  double  croysure  et 
entreposee  quaternaire.     Outre  ce  au  lieu  de  defendre  et 

«»  H.  Chamard,  Joachim  du  Bellay,  La  Beifence  et  Illustration  de  la 
Langue  Francoyse   (Paris,  1904),  pp.  203-204. 

70  A  corrupt  passage.  Chamard  says :  "  Le  sens  est  bien  peu 
clair.  *'    This  remark  applies  to  the  unemended  text. 


THEORY  OF   THE  BALLADE 


201 


illustrer  nostre  langue  (comme  tu  le  promets),  tu  nous  fais 
grand  deshonneur,  de  nous  renvoyer  a  Titalien,  qui  a  prins 
la  forme  de  sa  poesie  des  Francois,  et  en  laquelle  il  est  si 
licentieux,  qu'il  use  de  motz  et  couppes,  divisions  et  con- 
tractions a  Testriviere.'''^ 

**  Comme  tu  as  jete  les  plus  belles  formes  de  la  poesie 
frauQoise,  ainsi  maintenant  rejectes  tu  la  plus  exquise  sorte 
de  ryme  que  nous  ayons,  moyenant  qu'elle  ne  soit  affectee 
et  cerchee  trop  curieusement.  Et  en  cecy  tu  blasmes  taisi- 
blement  Meschinot,  Molinet,  Cretin  et  Marot,  tels  person- 
nages  que  chacun  les  coignoit.  Mais  comme  j'ay  dit  des 
chants  royaux,  balades,  rondeaux  et  virlais,  la  difficulte  des 
equivoques,  qui  ne  te  viennent  pas  tons  jours  a  propos,  les 
te  fait  rejecter. ■'^ 

O.     Guillaume  des  Autelz:  Bepliques  aux  Furieiises 

Defenses  de  Louis  Meigret 

"Au  reste,  encores,  ne  tiens  je  si  peu  de  conte  de  noz 
anciens  Francois,  que  je  mesprise  tant  leurs  propres  inven- 
tions que  ceux  qui  les  appellent  espisseries,  qui  ne  servent 
d 'autre  chose  que  de  porter  temoignage  de  nostre  ignorance. 
Pourquoy  est  plus  a  mesp riser  I'elaboree  ballade  francoise 
que  la  superstitieuse  sextine  italiene?  Ou  y  trouvez  vous 
si  grande  ineptie?  Est  ce  en  la  palynodie?  mais  elle  nous 
est  commune  avecques  les  Grecs  et  Latins.  Est  ce  en  la 
difficulte?  mais  tant  plus  en  est  elle  louable,  pourveu  qu'elle 
n'en  apparoisse  ny  moins  ornee  ny  plus  contrainte.  Est  ce 
en  I'abus  de  ceux  qui  escrivent  mal?  mais  nous  pourrions 
ainsi  universellement  condemner  toute  la  poesie.     Et  tant 

71  H.  Chamard,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  222. 

72  iMd.,  p.  264. 


202  THE  BALLADE 

s*en  faut  que  pour  sa  diffieulte  je  restime  incapable  des 
ornemens  poetiques  que  je  ii*en  forclus  pas  le  chant  royal, 
beaucoup  plus  difficile  et  ingenieux:  d'autant  qu'il  est  plus 
long  et  doit  contenir  une  perpetuelle  allegoric  jusques  a 
Tepilogue,  qui  la  doit  ouvrir  et  declairer.  Et  quant  ce  ne 
seroit  qu'un  exercice  pour  nous  preparer  a  plus  grans 
ceuvres,  pource  ne  devrions  nous  vituperer  1 'eglantine  tho- 
losane,  ou  Ion  ne  defend  pas  de  proposer  d'autres  poemes. 
Cecy  n'est  pas  dit  pour  soutenir  la  facon  de  nostre  vieille 
poesie :  mais  je  pense  que  ce  temps  luy  peult  donner  ce  que 
le  passe  luy  ha  refuse,  et  qu'elle  n'est  inhabible  a  le  re- 
cevoir.  Ce  que  j'ay  dit  de  la  ballade,  je  I'estens  jusques 
au  lay,  que  noz  predecesseurs  prenoient  pour  I'ode:  et 
pource  je  ne  me  soucie  pas  qu'on  rejette  le  nom,  pourveu 
qu'on  retienne  la  chose  et  que  Ion  I'agence  mieux."^^ 

P.     Jacques  Pelletier:  L'Art  Poetique 

**Combien  de  tans  a  ete  notre  langue  languissante  an 
barbaric  povrete  et  contannement !  .  .  .  Combien  longue- 
mant  a  ele  sofistique  an  Balades,  Rondeaus,  Lez,  Virelez, 
Triolez,  e  s'il  i  an  a  de  tez.''* 

Q.     Etienne  Pasquier :  Becherches  de  la  France 

' '  Quant  a  la  Ballade,  c  'estoit  un  chant  Royal  racourci  au 
petit  pied,  auquel  toutes  les  reigles  de  1 'autre  s 'observoient 
et  en  la  suite  continuelle  de  la  rime,  et  en  la  closture  du 
vers,  et  au  Renvoy,  mais  ils  se  passoient  par  trois  ou  quatre 
dizains,  ou  huitains,  et  encores  en  vers  de  sept,  huit  on  dix 
syllabes  a  la  discretion  du  fatiste,  et  en  tel  argument  qu'il 
vouloir  choisir." 


78  ihid.,  p.  204. 

74  H.   Chamard,   De  Jacohi   Peletarii   Cenomanensis  Arte   Poetica 
(Insulis,  1900),  p.  57. 


THEORY   OP   THE  BAXiLADE  203 

**Si  ces  trois  especes  de  Poesie  estoient  encores  en  usage, 
je  ne  les  vous  eusse  icy  representees,  comme  sur  un  tableau : 
vous  les  recevrez  de  moi  comme  d'une  antiquiaille.  Toute 
mon  intention  estoit,  et  est,  de  vous  monstrer  dont  pro- 
venoit,  que  corabien  que  les  chant  Royaux  et  Ballades  ne 
parlassent  en  aucune  fagon  des  Princes,  toutesfois  leurs 
conclusions  aboutissent  seulement  en  eux. ' ' 

''II  n'est  pas  qu'en  ma  jeunesse  es  disputes  qui  se 
faisoient  entre  nous  dedans  nos  classes,  celuy  qui  avoit  mal 
respondu,  estoit  par  nous  appelle  Reus,  comme  si  on  luy 
eust  faict  son  procez.  II  en  prit  autrement  a  nos  vieux 
Poetes.  Car  comme  ainsi  fust  qu'ils  eussent  certain  jeux 
de  prix  en  leur  Poesies,  ils  ne  condamnoient  point  celuy  qui 
faisoit  le  plus  mal,  mais  bien  honoroient  du  nom  tantost  de 
Roy,  tantost  le  Prince,  celuy  qui  avoit  le  mieux  fait.'* 

"Tous  ces  chants  [chants  Royaux  Ballades],  comme  j'ay 
dit,  estoient  dediez  a  I'honneur,  et  celebration  des  Festes 
les  plus  celebres,  comme  de  la  Nativite  de  nostre  Seigneur, 
de  sa  Passion,  de  la  Conception  de  nostre  Dame,  et  ainsi  des 
autres :  La  fin  estoit  un  couplet  de  cinq,  ou  sex  vers  que  1  'on 
addressoit  a  un  Prince,  duquel  on  n  'avoit  faict  aucune  men- 
tion par  tout  le  discours  du  chant.  Chose  qui  pent  appres- 
ter  a  penser  a  celuy  qui  ne  scaura  ceste  anciennete.  La 
verite  donques  est  (que  j'ay  apprise  du  vieux  Art  Poetique 
FrauQois  par  moy  cy-dessus  allegue  [Dolet])  que  Ton  cele- 
broit  en  plusieurs  endroits  de,  la  France  des  jeux  Floraux, 
ou  celuy  qui  avoit  rapporte  I'honneur  de  mieux  escrire, 
estant  appelle  tantost  Roy,  tantost  Prince,  quand  il  falloit 
renouveler  les  jeux,  donnoit  ordinairement  des  ces  Chants  a 
faire,  qui  furent  pour  ceste  cause  appellez  Royaux,  d'au- 
tant  que  de  toute  leur  Poesie,  cestuy  estoit  le  plus  riche 


204  THE  BALLADE 

sujet  qui  estoit  donne  par  le  Roy,  lequel  donnoit  aussi  des 
Ballades  a  faire  qui  estoient  comme  demy  chants  Royaux. 
Ces  jeunes  fatistes  ayans  compose  ce  qui  leur  estoit  enjoinct, 
reblandissoient  a  la  fin  de  leurs  Chants  Royaux  et  Ballades 
leur  Prince,  afin  que  I'honorant  ils  fussent  aussi  par  luy 
gratifiez,  et  lors  il  distribuoit  Chapeaux  et  Couronnes  de 
fleurs,  uns  et  autres,  selon  le  plus  ou  le  moins  qu'ils  avoient 
bien-faict.  Chose  qui  s 'observe  encores  dans  Tholose,  oii 
Ton  bailie  I'Englentine  a  celuy  qui  a  gaigne  le  dessus,  au 
second  la  Soulcie,  et  quelques  autres  fleurs  par  ordre,  le 
tout  toutesfois  d 'argent,  et  port  encores  cet  honneste  exer- 
cise, le  nom  de  jeux  Floraux,  tout  ainsi  qu 'ancienneraent. 
Ces  chants  Royaux,  Ballades,  Rondeaux  et  Pastorales, 
commencerent  d 'avoir  cours  vers  le  regne  de  Charles  cin- 
quiesme.'^* 

R.     Frangois  de  Pierre  Delaudun  Daigaliers:  L'Art 
Poetique 

De  la  Ballade 

Chap.  V 

*'Avtrefois  la  ballade  a  este  en  telle  vogue,  qu'elle  ne 
seruoit  qu'  a  choses  grades  &  dignes  d'estre  presentees  a  vn 
Roy  ou  Prince:  mais  auiourd'huy  outre  ce  que  Ton  ne  s'en 
sert  plus,  encores  ceux  qui  s'en  seruent  ne  1 'employ et 
qu'a  risee,  &  n 'estoit,  le  puy  de  la  Conception  des  Carmes 
de  Roiian,  qui  se  tient  vne  fois  I'an,  ie  croy  que  desja 
la  memoire  en  seroit  perdue.  La  Ballade  est  appellee 
ainsi,  pource  qu'elle  seruoit  au  Bal,  &  contient  quatre 
parties,  SQauoir  trois  couplets  entiers  &  vn  enuoy,  qui 
sert  d 'epilogue.  Les  couplets  ont  autant  de  vers  les  vns  que 
les  autres,  &  sont  vnisones  en  rime.     I 'ay  diet  que  c 'estoit 

75  E.  Pasquier,  Les  Becherches  de  la  France  (Amsterdam,  1723), 
Book  vn,  Ch.  V. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  205 

a  dire,  qu'ils  sont  semblables  &  fraternisans.  L'on  y  met 
des  vers  selon  le  plaisir  du  Poete.  Les  plus  communs  sont 
de  hiiict,  sept,  dix  &  vnze,  I'enuoy  n'a  que  la  moitie  des 
carmes  d'vn  couplet,  comme  si  le  couplet  est  de  huict  ou 
de  sept,  Tenuoy  en  aura  quatre  s'il  est  de  dix  ou  de  sept, 
Tenuoy  en  aura  quatre  s'il  est  de  dix  ou  de  vnze,  I'enuoy 
aura  cinq  &  quelquesfois  sept,  pourueu  qu'il  soit  vnzain,  si 
le  couplet  a  douze  vers  I'euoy  en  a  sept,  &  les  vers  de 
I'enuoy  doiuent  estre  vnisones  aux  derniers  du  couplet. 
Le  refrain  de  la  Ballade  est  le  vers  qui  se  repete  tousiours 
a  la  fin  du  couplet  &  de  I'enuoy;  lequel  est  compte  pour  vn 
des  vers  du  couplet,  &  n'est  pas  superflus,  comme  le  refrain 
ou  repetitio  du  Rondeau.  I 'en  mets  icy  vne  qui  est  prise 
de  mes  Meslages  pour  n'en  trouuer  en  Ronsard,  Desportes, 
&  autres  bon  autheurs." 

"Pour  bien  dormir  la  matinee, 
lusqu'a  midy  ou  bien  plus  tard, 

Pour  enployer  mal  sa  ioumee, 

Bien  le  fera  maistre  Mordart, 

Car  s'il  ne  se  leuoit  si  tard, 

Ce  seroit  chose  salutaire : 

Et  de  faire  un  acte  gaillard, 

Maistre  Mordart  ne  le  pent  faire. 

Pour  caqueter  Papres-disnee, 
Au  coing  d'vn  feu  comme  vn  cagnard, 
Et  pour  faire  chose  mal  nee, 
Bien  le  fera  Maistre  Mordart, 
Mais  si  par  vne  fois  d'hazard 
II  eust  pense  de  vous  complaire: 
Pour  aller  chez  maistre  Richard, 
Maistre  Mordart  le  pent  bien  faire. 

Pour  bien  aller  a  I'haquenee 
Dessus  vn  beau  cheual  bayart, 
Se  pourmener  la  matinee 


206  THE  BALLADE 

Bien  le  f  aira  Maistre  Mordart, 
Et  puis  venant  de  ceste  part, 
Comme  vn  braue  soldat  de  guerre : 
De  prendre  son  repos  bien  tart, 
Maistre  Mordart  ne  le  peut  faire. 

Enuoy 

Pour  faire  Facte  dVn  cagnart, 
Bien  le  fera  Maistre  Mordart. 
Mais  si  c'est  chose  salutaire, 
Maistre  Mordart  ne  le  peut  faire."^^ 

' '  Ceste  Ballade  est  appellee  a  double  refrain  IVn  au  milieu 
du  couplet,  &  1 'autre  a  la  fin,  mais  es  Ballades  dont  j'ay 
parle  cy  dessus,  il  n'est  pas  requis  de  mettre  que  celuy  de  la 
fin.  La  Ballade  de  huict  syllabes  n'est  pour  que  risee,  mais 
celle  de  dix  est  pour  choses  graues,  &  faut  que  le  premier 
mot  de  I'enuoy  se  commence  par  le  tiltre  d'honneur  de  celuy 
a  qui  elle  s'adresse.'*" 

S.     Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye:  L'Art  Poetique  Frangois 

"  Et  des  vieux  chants  Royaux  decharge  le  fardeau, 
Oste  moy  Ballade,  oste  moy  le  Rondeau. 
Les  Sonnets  amoureux  des  Tangons  Prouengalles, 
Succederent  depuis  aux  marches  inegalles 
Dont  marche  I'Elegie;  alors  des  Troubadors 
Fut  la  Rime  trouee  en  chantant  leurs  amours : 
Et  quand  leur  vers  Rimez  ils  mirent  en  estime 
II  sonnoient,  il  chantoient,  ils  balloient  sous  leur  Rime. 
Du  Son  se  fist  Sonnet,  du  Chant  se  fist  chanson, 
Et  du  Bal  la  Ballade,  en  diverse  f  a^on : 

T6  Cf .  the  refrain  of  Frdre  Lubin  by  Clement  Marot :  ' '  Fr^re  Lubin 
ne  le  peult  faire. '* 

77  Francois  de  Pierre  Delaudun  Daigaliers,  L^Art  Poetique  (Paris, 
1598),  pp.  56-59. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  207 

Ces  Trouuerres  alloient  par  toutes  les  Prouinces 
Sonner,  chanter,  danser  leurs  Rimes  chez  les  Princes."^^ 

T.  Le  Sieur  de  Deimier:  L*Academie  de  VArt  Poetique 
.  .  .  ''la  Poesie  Frangoise  est  traictee  en  trente-deux 
sortes  de  Poemes,  qui  sont  nommez  ainsi,  et  en  premier  lieu 
comme  le  plus  excellent  de  tons:  le  Poeme  Heroique,  Dis- 
eours,  Hymne,  Confession,  Priere,  Auanture,  Elegie, 
Stances,  Ode,  Sonnet,  Madrigal,  Plainte,  Chanso,  Proso- 
popee.  Lamentations  ou  Regrets,  Epigrame,  Cartel,  Echo, 
Satyre,  Eglogue,  Epithalame,  Tragedie  Tragi-comedie, 
Chant  Royal,  Epitaphe,  Moralite,  Farce,  Rondeau,  Balade, 
Vire-lay  &  Triolet.  Lesquels  a  mon  auis,  sont,  ou  compren- 
nent  toutes  les  formes  et  manieres  dont  les  Poetes  ont 
d'escrit,  ou  peuuent  d'escrire  leurs  imaginations.  Aussi 
les  six  derniers  de  ces  Poemes  ont  este  fort  pratiquez  entre 
les  anciens  Poetes  Frangois,  mais  a  present  on  n'en  plus 
d'estat."'^ 

U.  Francois  Colletet:  L^Escole  des  Muses 
"La  Balade  autrefois  ne  s'adressoit  qu'aux  Princes,  et 
ne  traittoit  que  matieres  graues  et  serieuses:  depuis,  les 
Poetes  s'en  sont  seruis  en  toutes  sortes  de  matieres:  Elle 
contient  trois  couplets  et  vn  enuoy  ou  epilogue :  les  couplets 
doiuent  auoir  autant  de  vers  les  vns  comme  les  autres,  et  les 
rimes  doiuent  estre  vnisonnes,  c'est  a  dire,  que  les  rimes 
qui  sont  au  premier,  doiuent  estre  semblables  de  son  a  celles 
du  second  et  troisieme. 

**La  disposition  des  rimes  des  couplets  est  semblable  a 
eelle  de  I'Epigramme:  les  Vers  communs  sont  commune- 
ment  employez  en  sa  composition. 

78Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye,  L'Art  Poetique  Frangois  (Paris, 
1885),  Livre  I,  11.  545-556. 

T^lie  Sieur  de  Deimier,  L'Academie  de  VArt  Poetique  (Paris, 
1610),  pp.  19-20. 


208  THE  BALLADE 

**Le  nombre  des  Vers  de  chaque  couplet  est  a  Tarbitre  du 
Poete ;  toutef ois  les  plus  reguliers  sont  de  huit,  dix,  sept  ou 
vnze,  et  quelque  fois  de  douze  Vers. 

* '  L  'enuoy  ou  epilogue  mesure  le  nombre  de  ses  Vers  a  celuy 
des  couplets:  car  si  les  couplets  ont  huit  Vers,  Tenuoy  en 
aura  quatre;  s'il  en  a  dix,  I'epilogue  en  aura  cinq  plus 
communement,  quelque  fois  sept;  si'il  est  dVnze,  I'enuoy 
sera  de  cinq,  six  ou  sept;  si  le  couplet  en  a  douze,  I'enuoy 
sera  de  sept ;  les  Vers  de  1  'enuoy  doiuent  auoir  les  mesmes 
rimes  que  les  derniers  Vers  du  couplet. 

' '  Le  dernier  Vers  de  chacun  des  trois  couplets  de  1  'enuoy, 
doit  estre  le  mesme,  et  on  Tappelle  le  refrain  de  la  Balade, 
lequel  ne  doit  estre  compte  pour  vn  des  Vers  constituans  le 
couplet  comme  il  se  pourra  voir  en  cette  Balade  de  Marot, 
laquelle,  quoy  que  son  style  ne  soit  pas  a  imiter,  nous  pourra 
toutesfois  servir  pour  voir  la  disposition  de  ce  Poeme. 

"II  faut  bien  prendre  garde  que  le  refrain  ne  soit  tire  par 
les  cheueux."®** 

V.     Boilesai:  L' Art  Poetique 

"  Tout  poeme  est  brillant  de  sa  propre  beaute : 
Le  rondeau,  ne  gaulois,  a  la  naivete; 
La  ballade,  asser\de  a  ses  vieilles  maximes, 
Souvent  doit  tout  son  lustre  au  caprice  des  rimes."®® 

III.  Summary 
The  theories  in  regard  to  the  ballade  in  the  selections 
given  above  are  concerned  with  the  structure  of  the 
stanzas  and  of  the  line  units;  with  the  rime-scheme,  the 
refrain,  and  the  envoy.  The  rhetoricians,  from  the  begin- 
ning, were  keenly  interested  in  devising  embellishment  and 

80  Francois  Colletet,  L'Escole  des  Muses  (Paris,  1656),  pp.  48-50. 

81  Nicolas  Boileau-Despr^aux,  L'Art  Poetique,  11.  139-142  reprinted 
in  A.  S.  Cook,  The  Art  of  Poetry  (Boston,  1892),  p.  180. 


THEORY   OF   THE   BALLADE  209 

multiplying  variations.  Their  distinctive  contributions 
practically  ceased  with  the  work  of  Sibilet,  after  whose 
treatise  the  ballade  was  no  longer  of  importance  in  the  hand- 
books of  poetics.  Sibilet  himself  was  indebted  to  his  pre- 
decessors, Deschamps,  Molinet,  Llnfortune,  Fabri,  and 
du  Pont. 

The  first  of  the  writers  on  the  hallade,  Deschamps,  dis- 
criminated between  music  and  poetry  in  his  effort  to  show 
that  in  the  puy,  where  the  ballade  was  presented  before  the 
pnnce  of  the  puy,  the  poet  recited  his  poem  and  did  not 
sing  it.  In  his  text  and  in  the  examples  (not  all  of  which 
are  given  above),  he  speaks  of  nine  varieties  of  the  ballade. 
They  are : 

(1)  The  stanza  of  7  lines. 

(2)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  (8  syllables)  ;ababbcbc, 

with  envoy  a  c  a  c. 

(3)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  (10  syllables)  ;ababbcbc. 

(4)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  with  7  lines  of  10  syllables  and 

the  fifth  line  of  7  syllables ;  a  b  a  b  c  c  d  d. 

(5)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  (10  syllables)  with  a  two  line 

refrain;  ababbcbc. 

(6)  The  stanza  of  9  lines  with  8  lines  of  10  syllables  and 

the  sixth  line  of  seven ;  a  b  a  b  c  c  d  d. 

(7)  The  stanza  of  10  lines  (8  syllables)  ;ababbcc     1  - 

d  c  d. 

(8)  The  stanza  of  10  lines  (10  syllables)  ;ababbcc     v\tj 

d  c  d. 

(9)  The  stanza  of  11  lines  with  10  lines  of  10  syllables 

and  the  fifth  line  of  7  syllables;  ababccdd 

e  d  e ;  envoy,  d  d  e  d  d  e. 

The  envoy  according  to  Deschamps  was  attached  formerly 

only  to  the  chant  royal.     In  connection  with  the  rime  of  the 

ballade  he   explains  the  nature   of   leonine   and   sonant. 

By  the  former  he  means  what  is  called  in  English  feminine 

15 


210  THE   BALLADE 

rime,  and  by  the  latter  what  we  call  masculine  rime.  A 
ballade  equivoque  and  retrograde  is  peculiar  in  taking 
the  last  one  or  two  syllables  of  the  preceding  line  for  the 
first  word  of  the  following  line  and  employing  this  last  in 
an  entirely  different  sense  from  that  in  which  it  had  first 
appeared. 

Legrand,  unlike  Deschamps,  reflects  an  earlier  stage  of 
the  ballade.  In  his  short  treatise  he  takes  up  the  interior 
structure  of  the  ballade  stanza,  and  what  he  says  of  it  is 
applicable  to  the  commonest  ballade  scheme.  By  Vouvert 
and  le  clos  he  must  mean  the  crossed  rimes  a  b  a  b; 
Voutrepasse  must  then  be  those  lines  intervening  be- 
tween the  cross-riming  lines  and  the  refrain.  It  is  there- 
fore impossible  for  the  latter  not  to  contain  the  rime  of  the 
refrain.  Legrand 's  statement  is  not  explained  by  the  evi- 
dence of  fifteenth  century  ballades,  though  he  means  per- 
haps that  the  oultre  passe  may  contain  rimes,  especially 
in  the  case  of  the  longer  ballade  stanzas,  that  are  found  also 
either  in  the  first  four  lines  or  in  the  refrain.^- 

82  E.  Stengel,  reviewing  Langlois'  Eeciieil,  pointed  out  that  Le- 
grand 's  theory  was  based  on  the  usage  of  the  fourteenth,  even  perhaps 
of  the  thirteenth  century.  To  illustrate,  he  referred  to  the  Oxford  col- 
lection of  baletes  in  MS.  Douce  308  as  furnishing  specimens  built  on 
the  rules  of  the  ballade  set  down  by  Legrand.  He  says  "Sehen  wir 
uns  den  Bau  der  haJetes  in  der  Oxforder  Sammlung  an,  so  finden  sich 
allerdings  nur  zwei  darunter  deren  Strophenabschluss  jede  Reimver- 
bindung  mit  dem  Eefrain  vermissen  lasst,  namlich  No.  163  und  69. 

"In  163  steht  iiberdies  der  zweite  und  in  69  der  einzige  Reim  des 
Strophenabschlusses  auch  selbststandig  denen  der  Stollen  gegeniiber. 
Nach  Legrands  Vorschrift  sollte  eine  solche  vollige  Reimselbstandig- 
keit  eigentlich  ausgeschlossen  sein.  Ahnliche  Falle  einzelner  selbstjind- 
iger  Reime  des  Strophenabschlusses  kommen  in  unserer  Sammlung 
auch  noch  sehr  selten  vor  (z.  B.  No.  57).  Dagegen  reimt  in  alien 
iibrigen  Balladen  der  Strophenabschluss  entweder  nur  mit  dem  Re- 
frain Oder  sowohl  mit  dem  Refrain  wie  mit  den  Stollen.  Dass  Le- 
grand ferner  das  envoi  der  Ballade  verschweigt,  deutet  wohl  auch  eher 


THEORY  OF  THE  BALLADE  211 

The  author  of  Les  Regies  de  la  Seconde  Rhetorique  men- 
tions six  varieties  of  the  ballade: 

(1)  The  stanza  of  9  lines  (10  syllables)  ;  a  b  a  b  c  c  d 

c  d,  with  envoy  ceded.  (An  unquotable  sote 
halade.y^ 

(2)  The  stanza  of  10  lines  (7  syllables) ;  a  a  b  a  a  b  b 

a  a  b. 

(3)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  (10  syllables)  ;ababbcbc. 

(4)  The  stanza  of  11  lines  (10  syllables) ;  a  b  a  b  c  c  d 

d  e  d  e.  The  vowels  in  the  end  rimes  follow  the 
order  of  vowels  in  the  alphabet. 

(5)  The  stanza  of  10  lines  (first  half  line  of  4  syllables; 

second  half  line  of  six  syllables;  constructed  to 
read  like  7  below) ;  a  b  a  b  b  c  c  d  c  d. 

(6)  The  stanza  of  12  lines  (the  first,  third,  fourth,  sixth, 

seventh,  ninth,  tenth,  and  twelfth  of  10  syllables, 
with  a  break  after  the  third  syllable;  the  second, 
fifth,  eighth,  and  eleventh  lines  of  4  syllables) ; 
aabaa    bbbcbbc. 

(7)  The  stanza  of  ten  lines  (the  lines  divided  into  two 

parts,  the  first  half  line  having  4  syllables,  the 
second  half,  6  syllables)  ;ababecdded, 
with  envoy  d  e  d.  All  three  stanzas  and  envoy 
of  this  ballade  are  given.  There  is  no  refrain. 
The  first  letters  of  all  the  lines  present  the  acrostic 
Biaute,  Clarte,  Honneur,  Richesse  and  Pris.  The 
ballade  may  read  in  three  ways:  (a)  only  the  first 
half -lines;    (b)    only  the   second   half -lines;    (c) 

darauf ,  dass  er  die  alte  Baletef orm  im  Auge  halte,  als  dass  er  '  ne 
s'est  pas  bien  rendu  eompte  de  ce  qu'il  6crivait';  denn  Deschamps 
(S  278)  bemerkt  betreffs  der  Envois  ausdriicklich :  '  Et  ne  les  souloit 
on  point  faire  anciennement,  fors  es  Chansons  royaulx.'  *'  See 
Stengel,  in  Zeit.  f.  Bom.  Phil,  XXVIII,  p.  369. 
83  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  38. 


212  THE   BALLADE 

both  the  first  half  and  the  second  half  of  the  line 
together.    Read  in  the  last  way,  the  ballade  shows 
internal  rime. 
The  specimen  stanza  given  of  a   halade  en  figure  de 
poetiz  lais,  and  the  plaine  laie  halladant  cited,  are  both  re- 
ferred to  the  lai,  because  in  the  fifteenth  century  that  kind 
of  poem  employed  either  short  lines  only  or  long  and  short 
lines  mixed. 

In  the  work  of  Herenc,  who  knew  Les  Regies,  we  have  the 
first  mention  of  a  relationship  between  the  number  of  lines 
in  the  stanza  and  the  number  of  syllables  in  the  refrain,  an 
eleven-line  stanza  having  an  eleven-syllable  refrain  (and  so 
other  lines  of  eleven  syllables),  the  same  arrangement  mak- 
ing ten-line,  nine-line,  and  eight-line  stanzas.  The  ballade 
varieties  in  Herenc 's  book  on  poetics  are : 

(1)  The  stanza  of  11  lines  (11  syllables)  ;  a  b  a  b  c  c  d 

d  e  d  e,  with  an  envoy  d  e  d  e. 

(2)  The  stanza  of  10  lines  (10  syllables)  :  a  b  a  b  b  c  c 

d  c  d,  with  an  envoy  c  d  c  d. 

(3)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  (8  syllables)  ;  a  b  a  b  b  c  b  c, 

with  an  envoy  b  c  b  c. 

(4)  The  stanza  of  9  lines  (9  syllables) ;  a  b  a  b  c  c  d 

c  d,  with  an  envoy  c  d  c  d. 

(5)  The  stanza  of  7  lines  (7  syllables)  ;  a  b  a  b  b  c  c, 

with  an  envoy  b  b  c  c. 

(6)  The  stanza  of  ten  lines  (6  syllables)  ;  a  b  a  b  c  c 

d  e  d  e,  with  an  envoy  d  e  d  e. 

(7)  The  stanza  of  15  lines  (the  first,  second,  third,  fourth, 

sixth,  eighth,  tenth,  twelfth,  thirteenth,  fourteenth 
lines  of  8  syllables;  the  fifth,  seventh,  ninth, 
eleventh  and  fifteenth  lines  of  three  syllables) ; 
ababbccddeefeef. 

(8)  The  stanza  of  12  lines  (4  syllables)  ;  a  b  a  b  c  c  d 

d  e  f  e  f  ,  with  an  envoy  d  d  e  f  e  f.  The  re- 
frain is  composed  of  two  lines. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  213 

One  of  the  hallades  quoted  above  contains  the  familiar 
catalogue  of  the  Seven  Deadly  Sins,  a  matter  not  wholly 
uncongenial  to  this  form  of  poetry.®*  Another  quoted  by 
Herenc  shows  the  use  of  the  ballade  for  purposes  of  dia- 
logue.^*^ 

The  Traits  de  VArt  de  RJietorique  gives  rules  for  the 
ballade  and  the  rondeau  only,  among  the  fixed  forms,  **car 
en  cest  art  y  fait  mettre  moult  I'usaige.''  Forms  like  the 
chant  royal,  the  serventois,  etc.,  had  come  to  be  considered 
purely  academic  exercises  even  at  the  time  of  Deschamps. 
At  the  end  of  the  treatise,  as  a  sort  of  appendix,  the  author 
transcribes  a  number  of  ballades  (not  printed  by  Langlois) 
some  of  which  have  the  same  refrain.  They  were  undoubt- 
edly composed  in  competition  at  some  piiy.  One  of  the 
series  is  always  labeled  le  pris.  The  author  of  the  Traite 
says  in  one  place  that  the  ballade  stanza  may  be  of  any 
number  of  lines,  but  later  on  he  prescribes  at  least  seven 
lines,  probajbly  not  including  the  refrain.  He  recommends 
crossed  rimes  for  every  stanza.  Legrand,  it  will  be  noticed, 
anticipates  this  author  in  emphasizing  the  relation  of  the 
refrain  to  the  rest  of  the  stanza. 

Molinet,  like  Deschamps,  was  a  prolific  poet  as  well  as  a 
theorizer,  and  he  draws  his  examples  from  his  own  works. 
He  repeats  the  direction  that  the  lines  of  the  stanza  should 
equal  the  number  of  syllables  in  the  refrain.  He  dis- 
tinguishes : 

(1)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  (8  syllables). 

(2)  The  stanza  of  9  lines   (9  syllables) ;  a  b  a  b  c  c 

d  c  d. 

(3)  The  stanza  of  10  lines  (10  syllables) ;  a  b  a  b  b  c 

c  d  c  d. 

84  See  Chapter  II.  Cf.  MS.  Frangais  2306  in  the  BihUothdque 
Nationale. 

85  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  xlv. 


214  THE   BALLADE 

(4)  The  stanza  of  11  lines  (11  syllables)  ;  a  b  a  b  c  c 

d  d  e  d  e,  with  an  envoy  d  d  e  d  e. 

(5)  The  stanza  of  11  lines  (the  first  and  fifth  lines  are  of 

10  syllables  unbroken;  the  other  lines  are  of  11 
syllables,  broken  after  the  fourth  syllable) ;  a  b  a 
bccddede,  with  an  envoy  d  e  d  e. 

(6)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  (8  syllables)  ;  the  first,  third, 

fifth  stanzas  riming  abaabbec;  the  second, 
fourth  and  sixth  riming  cdccddaa,  with  an 
envoy  d  a  a.     The  first,  third,  and  fifth  stanzas 
taken  together  form  a  balladey  as  do  the  second, 
fourth,  and  sixth  stanzas.    A  further  complication 
is  the  fact  that  in  both  cases  the  refrain  of  a  stanza 
serves  as  the  first  line  of  the  next  stanza. 
The   ballade   halladant   (see   5   above)    was  defined  by 
Herenc  as  composed  of  seven  seven-syllable  line  stanzas. 
What  Molinet  calls  a  ballade  balladant  was  described  under 
the  title  Taille  Pleine  Lwie  Balladant  in  the  first  anonymous 
treatise   we   examined.     Langlois  explains   Molinet 's   use 
of  the  word  balladant  by  supposing  Molinet 's  familiarity 
with  that  treatise  just  referred  to,  where  the  title  Taille 
Plaine  Balladant  occurs.     Langlois  believes  that  balladant 
in  the  title  means  simply  pour  ballade.     He  thinks  it  pos- 
sible that  Molinet  misapprehended  the  title,  hence  his  double 
and  unusual  definition  of  the  ballade  balladant. 

L'lnfortun^  adds  nothing  new  to  the  theory  of  the  sub- 
ject. He  reiterates  in  verse  the  two  well-known  formulas 
that  the  ballade  stanza  must  begin  with  crossed  rimes  and 
that  the  number  of  syllables  in  the  refrain  must  correspond 
to  the  number  of  lines  in  the  stanza.  He  uses  in  the  In- 
structif  proper  three  types: 

(1)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  (8  syllables)  ;ababbcbc, 
with  an  envoy  a  c  a  c.  Appropriately  enough  he 
employs  this  type  for  the  definition  of  the  form. 


THEORY   OF   THE   BALLADE  215 

(2)  The  stanza  of  9  lines   (9  syllables)  ;  a  b  a  b  b  e 

c  b  c. 

(3)  The  stanza  of  10  lines  (10  syllables)  ;  a  b  a  b  b  c  c 

d  c  d,  with  an  envoy  a  a  d  a  d.    This  form  shows 
the  ballade  with  dialogue  carried  on  within  the 
line  unit. 
The  Traite  de  Bhetorique  covers  only  a  small  part  of  the 

field  of  poetics  and  is  plainly  amateur  in  scope.     It  suggests 

for  use  in  the  ballade  : 

(1)  The  stanza  of  7  lines  (7  syllables)  ;  a  b  a  b  b  c  c. 

(2)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  (4  syllables)  ;ababbcbc. 

(3)  The  stanza  of  10  lines  (10  syllables)  ;  a  b  a  b  b  c 

c  d  c  d. 
Fabri  's  Pleine  Bhetorique  is  based  on  L  'Inf ortune  and  on 
Molinet.  He  quotes  from  both,  especially  from  L 'Inf or- 
tune, who  appears  on  practically  on  every  page  of  that 
part  of  the  Pleine  Bhetorique  that  deals  with  poetry. 
Fabri 's  work  is  especially  interesting  as  the  work  of  a 
man  who  was  one  of  the  early  participators  in  the  ''Con- 
cours  du  Puy  de  la  Conception"  at  Rouen.  He  says  at 
the  beginning  of  the  Bhetorique  en  Bithme  that  he  has 
composed  his  handbook  of  rime  "a  celle  fin  que  les  deuotz 
f acteurs  de  champ  royal  du  Puy  de  1  'Immaculee  Conception 
de  la  Vierge  ayent  plus  ardant  desir  de  composer,  de  tant 
qu'ilz  en  congnoissent  la  maniere,  par  laquelle  leur  deuo- 
tion  croistra,  et  affin  que  noz  treshonnorez  seigneurs  et 
maistres,  les  princes  et  poetes  laurez  d'iceluy  Puy,  ayent 
aulcune  recreation. '  '^^  Fabri  follows  Molinet  in  the  theory 
of  the  ballade,  as  his  reference  to  the  **Picars"  implies. 
His  first  example  is  L 'Inf ortune 's  ballade  on  the  ballade. 
The  ballade  layee  is  taken  from  Molinet;  Molinet  was  more 
elaborate,  it  will  be  remembered  in  his  explanation  of  the 
ballade  balladant.    Fabri 's  examples  embrace  these  varieties : 

8«  A.  Heron,  Opus  Cit.,  Ft.  II,  p.  2. 


216  THE  BALLADE 

(1)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  (8  syllables)  ;ababbcbe, 

with  an  envoy  a  c  a  c. 

(2)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  (8  syllables)  ;ababbcbc, 

with  an  envoy  b  c  b  c. 

(3)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  (10  syllables) ;  a  b  a  b  b  c 

b  e,  with  an  envoy  b  c  b  c. 
Another  treatise  based  largely  on  Molinet  is  L'Art  et 
Science  de  Rhetorique  Vulgaire.  It  is  a  reproduction  of 
Molinet  with  some  additions,  the  chief  of  which  is  the  recom- 
mendation relative  to  the  alternation  of  masculine  and 
feminine  rimes.  With  the  new  restriction  in  view,  Molinet 's 
examples  are  several  times  revised  at  the  expense  of  their 
meaning.^^    The  following  are  recommended  for  the  ballade: 

(1)  The  stanza  of  10  lines  (10  syllables) ;  a  b  a  b  b  c 

c  d  c  d, 

(2)  The  stanza  of  11  lines  (11  syllables) ;  a  b  a  b  c  c 

d  d  e  d  e. 

(3)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  (8  syllables) ;  a  b  a  a  b  b  c  c. 

(4)  The  stanza  of  9  lines  (9  syllables) ;  a  b  a  b  c  c  d 

c  d,  with  an  envoy  c  d  c  d. 

(5)  The  stanza  of  12  lines  (alexandrines) ;  a  a  b  a  a  b 

c  c  d  c  c  d,  with  an  envoy  c  c  d  c  c  d. 

(6)  See  stanza  form  (5)  of  Molinet. 

(7)  See  stanza  form  (6)  of  Molinet. 

In  general,  du  Pont  bases  his  rules  on  Fabri,  who  in  turn, 
as  we  have  seen,  derives  from  Molinet  and  L'Infortune. 
Du  Pont,  it  is  plain,  was  familiar,  too,  with  the  manual  of 
Deschamps.  The  hallade,  according  to  du  Pont,  must  have 
at  least  seven  lines  and  no  more  than  twelve  lines.  He 
speaks  specifically  of 

(1)  The  stanza  of  7  lines  couronnee  and  hatelee  in  which 
the  last  syllable  of  the  line  was  to  be  twice  re- 
peated, and  in  which  the  last  word  of  the  line  was 

87  Langlois,  OpibS  Cit.,  p.  Ixvii. 


THEORY  OF   THE  BALLADE  217 

to  rime  with  the  cesura  of  the  following  line.  This 
last  variation  is  illustrated  also  in  Les  Regies  de 
la  Seconde  Rhetorique  in  the  taille  plaine  laie 
balladant. 

(2)  The  stanza  of  8  lines. 

(3)  The  stanza  of  9  lines. 

(4)  The  stanza  of  8  lines,  emperiere  when  the  sound  was 

to  be  repeated  three  times  at  the  end  of  each  line. 

(5)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  equivoque. 

(6)  The  stanza  of  8  lines  hatelee. 

(7)  The  stanza  of  10  lines  hatelee. 

(8)  The  stanza  of  10  lines,  couronnee.    The  term  couron- 

nee  is  open  to  two  interpretations  in  connection 
with  the  ballade.    Rime  couronee  means  ordinarily 
rime  which  demands  the  repetition  of  the  last 
syllable  in  the  line.     The  ballade  couronee  may 
mean  a   ballade  i  composed   of   2   stanzas   of   10 
lines    (4    syllables) ;    ababb  ceded,    fol- 
lowed by  2  stanzas  of  10  lines  (6  syllables),  with 
another  refrain  riming  efeffgghgh,  fol- 
lowed, in  turn,  by  two  stanzas,  one  of  which  con- 
forms to  the  first  type,  the  other  of  which  to  the 
second  type.     This  kind  of  ballade  is  completed 
by  an  envoy  of  6  lines  (with  the  refrain  of  the 
second  group  of  stanzas) ,  riming  h  h  g  g  h  h. 
The  Controverses  referred  to  as  du  Font's  work  is  his 
Controverses  des  sexes  masculin  et  feminin,  en  trois  livres, 
suivi  de  la  Requete  du  sexe  masculin  contre  le  feminin 
(Toulouse,  1534),  a  collection  of  ballades,  rondeaux,  lais, 
and  virelais,  the  main  purpose  of  which  is  made  plain  by  its 
title.    But  its  subsidiary  purpose  is, 

"  Pareillement  aussi  pour  inciter 
(Dont  grandement  y  peuuent  proufiter) 
Les  ieunes  gens,  qui  desirent  apprendre 


218  THE  BALLADE 

De  composer  et  rhetorique  entendre. 
Ilz  y  uerront  des  Rythmes  bien  subtiles 
Aiix  apprentiz  de  tel  art  fort  utiles."^^ 

Sibilet's  Art  Poetique  Frangois  was  notably  the  first  of 
the  manuals  to  show  humanistic  tendencies,  yet  his  inclu- 
sion in  his  body  of  poetical  theory  of  the  earlier  poetic 
formulas  showed  him  to  be  only  partly  under  the  spell  of 
classical  antiquity. 

Sibilet,  strangely  enough,  makes  the  address  to  the  prince 
in  the  envoy  an  excuse  for  believing  that  the  ballade  was 
originally  adapted,  because  of  its  connection  with  royalty, 
only  to  subjects  of  dignity  and  weight.  The  rest  of  Sibilet's 
statements  about  the  ballade  present  no  great  variation 
from  those  of  other  authorities.  His  use  of  the  word  epi- 
logue for  envoy  is  an  evidence  of  classical  influence.  He 
fixes  the  numerical  relation  between  the  number  of  lines  in 
the  stanza  and  the  number  of  lines  in  the  envoy  as  follows : 


stanza 
8 

Envoy 
4 

Stanza 
11 

Envoy 
5 

10 

5 

11 

6 

10 

7 

12 

7 

He  concludes  that  lines  of  8  syllables  or  of  10  syllables  are 
most  commonly  used  in  the  ballade. 

Only  a  year  after  Sibilet's  work,  appeared  the  better 
known  Deffense  et  Illustration  de  la  Langue  Frangoise, 
which,  depending  as  it  does  almost  wholly  on  the  works  of 
Sperone  Speroni  and  Tolomeio,  marked  Du  Bellay  as  a 
Renaissance  man,  vowed  to  the  building  up  of  a  native  style 
formed  by  classically  educated  taste.  Against  the  ballade 
he  inveighs  as  an  evidence  of  the  ignorance  of  his  predeces- 
sors. His  reference  to  the  Floureaux  de  Tholose  and  the 
Puy  de  Rouan  are  evidently  depreciatory. 

88  H.  Zschalig,  Die  Verslehren  von  Fabri,  du  Pont  und  Sibilet  (Leip- 
sig,  1884),  p.  58. 


THEORY   OF   THE  BALLADE  219 

Aneau's  Le  Quintil  Horation  was  strangely  reactionary, 
attacking  Du  Bellay's  contemptuous  references  to  the  con- 
tests at  Toulouse  and  to  the  puy  at  Rouen,  and  depre- 
cating du  Bellay's  treatment  of  the  older  forms  of  French 
poetry.  Inconsistently,  Aneau  bases  his  defence  on  the  prec- 
edents of  Greece  and  Rome.  He  meets  Du  Bellay  on  his 
own  ground  and  justifies  the  native  types  of  verse  by  their 
classical  ( ? )  analogues. 

In  the  same  year  that  Aneau  was  writing  (1550),  Guil- 
laume  des  Autelz  in  his  Bepliques  aux  Furieuses  Defenses 
de  Louis  Meigret  took  much  the  same  ground.  He  is  even 
more  indignant  than  Aneau  at  the  intrusion  of  the  antique 
form. 

But  Pelletier,  whose  L'Art  Paetique  appeared  five  years 
later,  was  a  follower  of  Du  Bellay's.  Although,  as  we  shall 
see,  there  are  books  on  poetics  published  even  after  Aneau 
that  take  the  trouble  to  do  more  than  name  the  balladBf 
really  Du  Bellay  marks  a  boundary  line  between  the  old 
and  the  new  French  poets.  Delaudun  writes  of  it  as  a 
curiosity,  whereas  Pasquier  and  Francois  CoUette,  being 
literary  historians,  are  highly  particular  and  definite  in 
their  handling  of  the  form.  Vauquelin  de  la  Fresnaye,  Le 
Sieur  de  Deimier,  and  Boileau  only  name  the  ballade  not 
to  praise  it,  while  Pelletier,  imitating  Du  Bellay's  method, 
treats  it  with  contempt. 

The  very  title  of  Etienne  Pasquier 's  Recherches  de  la 
France  (1560)  shows  it  to  be  different  in  scope  from  the 
narrower  handbooks  that  we  have  been  examining.  It 
aims,  in  truth,  to  give  an  historically  accurate  account  of 
the  political  and  cultural  progress  of  France.  Pasquier,  in 
the  spirit  of  the  antiquary,  devotes  some  space  to  the  bal- 
lade, which  he  derives  from  the  chant  royal.  It  is  note- 
worthy, on  the  other  hand,  that  Colletet  seems  to  have  lost 
sight  of  the  connection  of  the  puy  with  the  origin  of  the 
ballade. 


220  THE  BALLADE 

Before  Boileau,  the  classical  despot,  disposes  of  the  bal- 
lade as  a  form  that  owes  its  popularity  chiefly  to  tricks  of 
rime,  Moliere  in  Les  Femmes  Savantes,  played  the  year  be- 
fore Boileau 's  set  of  rules  appeared,  embodies  in  Trissotin  *s 
fatal  phrase  the  timely  verdict  of  the  seventeenth-century 
man  of  letters  in  regard  to  the  ballade,  Vadius  and  Tris- 
sotin are  bandying  compliments  :^® 

Trissotin 
"  Rien  qui  soit  plus  eharmant  que  vos  petits  rondeaux  1 

Vadius 
Rien  de  si  plein  d'esprit  que  tous  vos  madrigaux? 

Trissotin 
Au  ballades  surtout  vous  etes  admirable. 

Vadius 
Et  dans  les  bouts-rimes  je  vous  trouve  adorable." 

They  continue  to  outdo  each  other ;  then : 

Vadius 
"  On  verroit  le  public  vous  dressez  de  statues. 
Horn!  c'est  une  ballade,  et  je  veux  que  tout  net 
Vous  m'en  ... 

Trissotin 
Avez-vous  vue  certain  petit  sonne* 
Sur  la  fievre  qui  tient  la  princesse  Uranie  ?  " 

Vadius  admits  having  heard  the  sonnet,  but  declares  it  to 
be  trash  of  the  worst  kind.  At  this  they  fall  to  quarrelling. 
Vadius  tries  to  propitiate  Trissotin  in  order  that  the  ballade 
may  be  read  aloud : 

Vadius 

"  II  fant  qu'en  ^coutant  j^aie  eu  ^esprit  distrait, 
Ou  bien  que  le  lecteur  m'ait  gate  le  sonnet, 
Mais  laissons  ce  discours,  et  voyons  ma  ballade. 

8»  Moliere,  Les  Femmes  Savantes,  Act  III,  Sc.  5. 


THEORY   OP   THE  BALLADE                                 221  j 

Trissotin  I 

La  ballade,  d,  mon  goUt,  est  une  chose  fade;  j 

Ce  n'en  est  plus  la  mode,  elle  sent  son  vieux  temps.  \ 

Vadius  ; 
La  ballade  pourtant  eharme  beaucoup  de  gens. 

Trissotin 

Elle  a  pour  les  pedans  de  merveilleux  appas."  i 

] 

Trissotin  is  speaking  for  his  age  when  he  says:  '*La  bal-  i 

lade  a  mon  gout  est  une  chose  fade.'*  ' 


CHAPTER   IV 
THE   MIDDLE   ENGLISH   BALLADE 

In  all  probability,  it  will  never  be  explained  to  our  entire 
satisfaction  why  the  ballade,  which  had  met  with  so  much 
favor  in  France  and  which  won  its  way  with  the  greatest 
Middle  English  poet,  did  not  achieve  greater  popularity 
with  Chaucer's  contemporaries  and  successors.  In  Eng- 
land, the  fifteenth  century  man  of  letters  seems  to  have 
been  susceptible  to  a  variety  of  French  conventions,  but 
only  occasionally  did  he  feel  impelled  to  use  the  form 
that  in  France  had  become  a  favorite  means  of  literary 
expression.  France,  indeed,  had  seen  the  production  of 
ballades  by  the  thousands,  whereas  England  saw  an  out- 
put that  could  be  counted  by  the  hundreds.  A  complete 
bibliography  of  the  Middle  English  ballade  might  contain 
only  some  two  hundred  and  twenty  items,  but  even  this 
list  would  certainly  include  questionable  specimens  of  the 
type.  To  Chaucer  himself  are  attributed  with  consider- 
able certainty  sixteen  genuine  ballades.  Lydgate  intro- 
duced the  form  into  The  Temple  of  Glas,  The  Legend  of 
Seynt  Margaret,  and  The  Fall  of  Princes.  He  also  wrote 
ballades  independent  of  his  longer  poems.  Hoccleve  seems 
never  to  have  composed  a  true  ballade,  although  the  char- 
acter of  his  seven-line  and  eight-line  stanza  shows  how 
familiar  he  must  have  been  with  the  form.^    Two  Middle 

1  See  F.  J.  Furnivall,  Eoccleve's  Minor  Poems,  Early  English  Text 
Society  (London,  1892),  Extra  Series  61,  p,  63,  in  which  is  found 
Balade  to  my  Maister  Carpenter,  of  three  stanzas  and  a  fourth  stanza 
used  as  a  kind  of  envoy  with  no  common  rimes  and  no  refrain. 

222 


THE   MIDDliE  ENGUSH   BALLADE  223 

English  collections  of  ballades  are  known,  namely,  the 
series  that,  for  many  years,  went  under  the  name  of  Charles 
d 'Orleans,  and  the  translation  by  one  Quixley  of  John 
Gower's  Traitie  pour  Essempler  les  Amants  Marietz.  A 
small  number  of  ballades  in  print  have,  at  various  times, 
been  attributed  to  Chaucer,  or  to  one  or  another  of  his  fol- 
lowers. Other  ballades,  anonymous,  still  unprinted,  are 
probably  to  be  unearthed  in  English  and  in  Scotch  libraries.^ 
In  Middle.  English  the  rigor  of  the  French  form  is  re- 
laxed. The  ballade  is  found  occasionally,  it  is  true,  cast  in 
the  mould  most  commonly  used  in  France.  For  example, 
Lydgate's  Flour  of  Courtesy e,  with  its  three  similar  stanzas 
and  envoy  of  fewer  lines  than  the  stanzas,  its  rime-scheme 
and  refrain,  is  in  form  like  hundreds  of  French  ballades. 
Many  of  the  Middle  English  poems  are  three-stanza  bal- 
lades without  envoys,  like  some  of  Deschamps's  and  Ma- 
chaut's,  but  with  common  rimes  and  a  refrain  in  all 
three  stanzas.  A  few  Middle  English  lyrics  we  must  call 
ballades,  because  the  refrain  is  constant  even  though  the 
rimes  change.  Such  ballades  are  seen  in  The  He  of  Ladies 
and  in  The  Court  of  Sapience.  A  three-stanza  poem,  with 
different  rime  in  every  stanza,  and  with  no  refrain,  called 

2F.  M.  Padelford,  The  Cambridge  History  of  English  Literature 
(New  York,  1908),  Vol.  II,  Chap.  XVI,  pp.  442-443:  ''Of  all  forms 
of  French  amatory  verse,  the  ballade  enjoyed  the  greatest  popu- 
larity in  England.  It  was  the  form  in  which  the  gallant  most 
often  essayed  to  ease  his  bosom  of  the  torments  of  love.  Every 
phase  of  the  conventional  love  complaint,  every  chapter  in  the  cycle 
of  the  lover's  history,  is  treated  in  these  ballades  precisely  as  in  the 
corresponding  verse  in  France."  There  seems  to  be  no  evidence  to 
bear  out  this  general  statement  of  the  case.  As  the  succeeding  pages 
show,  the  number  of  hallades  written  in  England  in  the  fifteenth 
century  was  inconsiderable ;  such  as  were  written  showed  little  variety 
in  theme,  and  with  certain  notable  exceptions,  were  ineffectual  imita- 
tions of  the  form  as  adapted  by  Chaucer  from  that  in  vogue  in  France. 


224  THE  BALLADE 

in  the  manuscript  a  halade,  served  as  a  kind  of  preface 
to  The  Chaunce  of  the  Dyse.^  This  three-stanza  form  was 
undoubtedly  written  under  the  influence  of  the  French, 
but  it  certainly  cannot  be  accounted  a  true  ballade  any 
more  than  Hoccleve's  envoy  to  the  Begement  of  Princes,^ 
or  certain  other  three-stanza  poems  in  the  same  manuscript, 
to  be  mentioned  later.  The  envoy  in  the  French  ballade  is 
composed,  as  we  have  seen,  of  lines  whose  number  bears 
some  relation  to  the  number  of  lines  in  the  stanza.  But  the 
envoy  in  the  English  ballade  may,  as  is  the  case  in  the  Fall 
of  Princes,  be  composed  of  as  many  lines  as  the  stanza  that 
it  follows.  We  shall  hold  those  Middle  English  poems  to  be 
ballades  which  are  composed  of  three  stanzas  with  refrain. 
We  may  allow  the  name  ballade  to  such  poems  even  when 
new  rimes  are  introduced  in  every  stanza,  although  even  in 
Middle  English  the  best  ballades  carry  the  rimes  of  the  first 
stanza  throughout  the  poem.  The  ballade  in  Middle  Eng- 
lish, as  in  French,  may  or  may  not  have  an  envoy.  The 
envoy  may  be  of  fewer  lines  than  the  stanza  or  of  the  same 
number.  In  the  French  ballade  it  is  clear  that  there  is  a 
considerable  variety  in  line  structure,  as  the  number  of 
syllables  in  the  line  employed  vary  widely,  and  in  certain 
cases  condition  the  number  of  lines  in  the  stanzas.  In 
Middle  English,  on  the  contrary,  the  almost  invariable  line 
is  the  five  stress  line,  used  according  to  the  pleasure  of  the 
individual  poet.  It  is  the  aim  of  the  following  pages  to 
record  the  use  of  the  word  balade  or  ballade  and  to  consider 
the  ballades  of  Chaucer,  Lydgate,  and  the  lesser  Middle 
English  versifiers. 

8  Bodleian  MS.  Fairfax  16. 

*F.  J.  Furnivall,  Hoccleve's  Begement  of  Princes,  Early  English 
Text  Society  (London,  1897),  Extra  Series  72,  p.  196. 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  225 

I.    Nomenclature 

According  to  Middle  English  nomenclature,  a  halade 
might  be  a  narrative  poem  of  purely  popular  origin,*^  or  the 
lyric  of  special  artificial  character,  with  its  various  modifi- 
cations, in  which  we  are  interested,  or  a  stanzaic  lyric  of 
indefinite  length.®  Chaucer,  referring,  of  course,  to  the 
seven-line  stanza  ballade  without  envoy,  in  the  Prologue 
B.  F.  of  the  Legend  of  Creod  Women  makes  Love  speak 
of  ''  'Hyd,  Absolon,  thy  tresses  in  halade.' '  The  other 
Chaucerian  ballades  are  of  seven-line,  eight-line,  or  nine- 
line  stanzas,  some  with  envoys  some  without.^  At  the 
end  of  the  fourteenth  century,  Gower  too,  was  using  the 
title  Cinkante  Balades  to  describe  the  conventional  French 
form  of  either  seven-line  or  eight-line  stanzas  with  envoy. 
Lydgate,  on  the  other  hand,  extends  the  word  to  mean 
stanzas  of  sevens,  with  or  without  the  same  rimes  as  the 
others,  as  he  implies  in: 

"I  took  a  penne  and  wroot  in  myn  maneer 
The  said  balladys  as  they  stonden  heere."* 

Again  Lydgate,  alluding  to  seven-line  stanzas,  writes  in 
By  come  and  Chichevache  (about  1430),  in  a  kind  of  gloss, 
''An  ymage  in  Poete  wise,  seyeng  these  iij  balades/* 
A  glance  at  the  latest®  Lydgate  bibliography  will  con- 

5  British  Museum  MS.  Harley  372,  fol.  113. 

6  In  Bodleian  MS.  Fairfax  16,  The  Compleynt  of  the  Dethe  of  Pity 
is  headed  halade  (fol.  187). 

7  In  British  Museum  MS.  Add.  34360,  Womanly  NoUesse,  labeled 
Balade  that  Chauncier  made,  is  composed  of  nine-line  stanzas,  riming 
aabaabbab,  with  the  same  rimes  in  all  three  stanzas  but  without 
refrain.     The  envoy  is  of  six  lines  riming  a  c  a  c  a  a. 

8  The  Fifteen  Joys  of  Our  Lady,  quoted  in  H.  N.  MacCracken, 
King  James'  Claim  to  Rhyme  Royal,  Modern  Language  Notes, 
XXIV,  p.  32. 

9  H.  N.  MacCracken,  The  Lydgate  Canon,  Transactions  of  the 
Philological  Society,  Pt.  I  for  1907,  London,  1908. 

16 


226  THE   BALLADE 

vince  one  that  the  scribes  of  this  poet  used  the  term  halade 
most  frequently  to  mark  the  stanzaic  lyric  of  indefinite 
length,^**  although,  as  we  have  seen,  the  poet  himself  pro- 
duced ballades  in  the  stricter  sense  of  the  word  as  well. 
Particularly  in  the  Fall  of  Princes  are  there  ballades  of 
seven-line  and  eight-line  stanzas,  with  and  without  envoys. 
James  Shirley,  the  scribe,  writing  about  1430,  included  in 
a  manuscripts^  the  three  following  titles : 

Balade  Byal  de  saine  counsylle. 

Balade  moult  Bon  et  Bydl. 

Balade  Eyal  made  by  oure  laureate  poete  of  Albyon. 
MacCracken,  who  calls  attention  to  these  three  items,^^ 
says  of  them :  *  *  These  poems,  two  of  them  French  and  one 
English,  show  the  Chaucerian  use  of  the  term  ballade.  But 
the  same  scribe  uses  the  term  balade  ryal  of  poems  tran- 
scribed twenty  years  later  in  MS.  Bodley  Ashmole  59, 
where  the  stanzas  do  not  have  the  same  rimes  but  merely  a 
common  refrain.'^  The  same  Shirley,  in  another  manu- 
script,^^  uses  balade  as  a  descriptive  title  for  a  six-line  stanza 
riming  a  b  a  b  c  c,^*  and  for  a  seven-line  stanza  riming 
a  b  a  b  b  c  c.^'' 

10  For  example,  at  the  end  of  A  Sayenge  of  the  Nyghtyngale,  a 
poem  of  fifty-four  stanzas  of  sevens,  Shirley  wrote: 

' '  Of  this  Balade  Dan  lohn 
Lydgate  made  nomore. " 
(Otto  Glauning,  The  Two  Nightingale  Poems,  London,  1900,  Early 
English  Text  Society,  Extra  Series  80,  p.  28.) 

11  Trinity  College,  Cambridge  MS.  B.  3.  SO. 

12  H.  N.  MacCracken,  King  James'  Claim  to  Ehyme  Boyal,  Modern 
Language  Notes,  XXIV,  p.  32. 

13  British  Museum  MS.  Harley  7333, 

14  "The  worlde  so  wyde,''  E.  Flugel,  Anglia,  XIV,  p.  463. 
i5*'phe  more  I  goo,'*  E.  Fliigel,  Anglia,  XIV,  p.  463.     Shirley's 

heading  runs,  "Halsam  Squiere  made  these  ij  halades.^'  These 
stanzas  were  popular  enough  to  appear  in  several  MSS.  See  also  E. 
P.  Hammond,  Two  British  Museum  MSS.,  Anglia,  XXVIII,  p.  4. 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  227 

Ballade  was  used  by  Lydgate  himself  to  describe  seven- 
line  stanzas  in  the  Fifteen  Joys  and  Sorrows  of  Mary: 

"  Off  ech  of  them  the  noumbre  was  Fifteene, 
Bothe  of  hir  loyes  and  her  adversitees, 
Ech  after  othir,  and  to  that  hevenUe  queene 
I  sauh  Oon  kneele  deuoutly  on  his  knees  j 
A  Pater-noster  and  ten  tyme  Auees 

In  ordre  he  sayde  [at  thende]  o  f  ech  ballade 
Cessyd  nat,  tyl  he  an  eende  made."^® 

Another  early  illustration  of  the  use  of  the  word  is  seen 
in  John  Hardyng's  Chronicle  (about  1440),  in  which  he 
writes:  *^Into  halade  I  wyll  it  now  translate,"  and  means 
thereby  the  seven-line,  a  b  a  b  b  c  c  stanza : 

"  Yet  wyll  I  vse  the  symple  witte  I  haue 
To  your  plesaunce  and  consolacion, 
Most  noble  lorde  and  prince,  so  God  me  saue, 
That  in  chronycles  hath  delectacion. 
Though  it  be  farre  above  myne  estimacion, 
Into  halade  1  wyll  it  now  translate, 
Ryght  in  this  form  with  all  myne  estymate."^'' 

The  use  of  the  word  in  Sir  Richard  Ros's  translation  of 
La  Belle  Dame  sans  Merci,  made  about  1460,^^  is  not  definite, 
but  merely  goes  to  show  the  conventional  association  be- 
tween lovers  and  ballades.  The  conjunction  of  halades  and 
*'songes"  makes  it  probable  that  the  short  French  lyric  is 
here  referred  to : 

"  Thes  seke  loners,  I  leue  ]>at  to  hem  longes, 

Whiche  led  )?air  lyfe  in  hope  of  allegeaunee, 

16  H.  N.  MacCracken,  The  Minor  Poems  of  John  Lydgate,  Early 
English  Text  Society  (London,  1911),  Extra  Series,  107,  p.  269. 

17  John  Hardyng,  Chronicle,  ed.  Henry  Ellis  (London,  1812),  p.  16. 

18  F.  J.  Furnivall,  Political  and  Beligious  Poems,  Early  English 
Text  Society,  Vol.  15  (London,  1866),  p.  54. 


228  THE  BALLADE 

]>at  is  to  say,  to  make  balade  or  songes, 

Eueryche  of  hem  as  J^ei  fele  her  grevaunee, 

ffor  sche  pat  wasse  my  joy  and  my  plesaunce, — 
Whos  soule,  I  pray  God  of  his  mercy  saue, — 

Sche  hath  myn  wyle,  my  hertes  ordeynaunce, 

which  lithe  with  her  vnder  her  toumbe  in  graue."^* 

Before  1500,  too,  we  have  Ashby  writing  in  his  Active 
Policy  of  the  Prince: 

"  Maisters  Gower,  Chaucer  &  Lydgate, 

Primier  poetes  of  this  nacion, 
Embelysshing  oure  englisshe  tendure  algate, 

Firste  finders  to  oure  consolacion 
Off.fresshe,  douce  englisshe  and  formacion 

Of  newe  halades,  not  vsed  before, 
By  whome  we  all  may  haue  lernying  and  lore."^** 

The  presence  of  Master  Gower 's  name  in  the  first  line  of 
this  stanza  makes  it  seem  probable  that  Ashby  had  in  mind 
a  hallade  in  the  special  sense.  Gower,  so  far  as  we  know, 
wrote  no  English  ballades,  yet  Ashby  seems  to  dwell  on  the 
function  of  the  three  poets  in  beautifying  and  enriching  the 
poetic  forms  of  their  mother  tongue.  It  is  quite  possible 
that  Ashby,  without  examining  facts  too  closely,  associated 
the  exotic  fixed  form,  French  or  English,  with  all  three 
poets.  All  three  certainly  were  known  as  the  authors  of 
ballades  in  the  most  technical  interpretation  of  the  word. 
Quixley  (1502?)  says  of  Gower 's  Timtie: 

"  Gower  it  made   in   f  rensh  with  gret  studie 
In  ballades  ryal."^^ 
10  F.  J.  Furnivall,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  82. 

20  M.  Bateaon,  George  Ashby 's  Poems,  Early  English  Text  Society, 
Extra  Series  76   (London,  1899),  p.  13. 

21  The  use  of  the  word  * '  royal ' '  in  this  connection  may  be  traced, 
in  England  as  in  France,  to  the  usages  of  the  puy.  The  statutes  of  a 
London  puy,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  give  evidence  earlier  in  date  than 
any  similar  French  records  of  the  use  of  the  word  reale  as  applied 
to  a  chanson  in  the  puy.    Cf.  Chapter  I,  and  Appendix  on  Chant  Boyal. 


THE  MroDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  229 

Quixley's  hcdlad^s  are,  indeed,  of  the  three-stanza,  seven- 
line  variety,  without  envoy,  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c,  with  the 
same  rimes  in  all  stanzas  and  a  common  refrain. 

In  the  fourteenth  chapter  of  Stephen  Hawes  's  Pastime  of 
Pleasure,  dated  by  Wynkyn  de  Worde  1505-6,  in  a  com- 
mendation of  Lydgate,  we  read : 

"  0  Mayster  Lydgate,  the  most  dulcet  sprynge 
Of  famous  rethoryke,  with  halade  ryaXl, 
The  chefe  orygynal  of  my  leming, 
What  vaylethe  it  on  you  for  to  call 
Me  for  to  ayde,  now  in  espeeiall; 
Sythen  your  body  is  now  wrapte  in  chest, 
I  pray  God  to  gyve  your  soule  good  rest. 

But  many  a  one  is  ryghte  well  experte 

In  this  connyng,  but  upon  auctoryte, 

They  fayne  no  fables  pleasaunt  &  covert, 

But  spende  theyr  time  in  vaynful  vanyte 

Makynge  halades  of  fers^ent  amyte. 

As  gestes  and  tryfles  wythout  frutef nines; 

Thus  al  in  vayne  they  spend  their  besynes."22 

In  this  passage,  Hawes  seems  to  be  contrasting  the  sub- 
stantial Lydgate  poems  of  many  seven-line  stanzas  with  the 
courtly  poetry  of  the  new  century.  '  *  Amyte ' '  is  presumably 
used  to  describe  the  relation  between  a  gallant  and  his 
amie.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  the  courtly  ballades 
of  the  early  sixteenth  century  have  survived  apparently  in 
only  modified  form.  Three  or  four  years  later,  in  1509, 
Barclay,  in  translating  Brandt's  Narrenschiff,  modestly  be- 
gins his  arraignment  of  the  wicked  ladies  of  history  with, 

"  My  halade  bare  of  frute  and  eloquenee."^^ 

22  Stephen  Howes,  The  Pastime  of  Pleasur  (London,  1845),  p.  55. 

23  Barclay's  Ship  of  Fools  (London,  1874),  Vol.  II,  p.  2. 


230  THE  BALLADE 

Here  the  word  halade  is  applied  to  one  division  of  the 
translation,  called  "Of  the  yre  immoderate,  the  wrath  and 
great  lewdness  of  wymen,"  and  composed  of  a  number  of 
eight-line  stanzas,  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  b  c,  concluding  with  an 
envoy  of  two  stanzas  in  which  the  translator  allows  himself 
to  speak,  and  addresses  himself  directly  to  "Ye  wrathful! 
wymen  by  vyce  lesynge  your  name. ' '  Balade  appears  again 
in  the  same  sense  in  another  stanza  of  the  division : 

"  Cornelia  prudent 
Chaste  and  discrete  and  of  beauty  souerayne 
Shall  not  my  Balade  rede."^* 

It  seems  probable,  from  the  context,  that  Spenser,  in  the 
third  book  of  the  Faerie  Queene  had  in  mind  the  ballade 
of  fixed  form,  when  he  catalogued  Parideirs  efforts  to  win 
Hellenore : 

"  And  otherwhyles  with  amorous  delights 
And  pleasing  toyes  he  would  her  entertaine ; 
Now  singing  sweetly  to  surprize  her  sprights, 
Now  making  layes  of  love  and  lovers  paine, 
Bransles,  Ballads,  virelays  and  verses  vaine ; 
Oft  purposes,  oft  riddles  he  devysd, 
And  thousands  like  which  flowed  in  his  braine, 
With  which  he  fed  her  fancy,  and  entysd 
To  take  to  his  new  love,  and  leave  her  old  despysd."^'' 

24  Opus  Cit.,  Vol.  II,  p.  2.  Compare  with  this  sentiment  the  stanza 
that  occurs  in  Bk.  I  of  the  Fall  of  Princes,  at  the  end  of  Ch.  XX 
(On  the  Malice  of  Women) : 

* '  Though  Then  Bochas,  in  his  opinion 
Agaynst  women  lyst  a  processe  make, 
They  that  ben  good  of  condicion 
Shoulde  ayenst  it  no  maner  quarel  take 
But  lightly,  I  passe  and  their  sleues  shake: 
For  againe  good  be  nothinge  made 
Who  can  conceyue  th  effect  of  this  taladc. ' ' 
28  The  Faerie  Queene  (1590),  Book  III,  Canto  X,  stanza  VIII. 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  231 

By  Ballads  Spenser  may  have  meant  the  fixed  verse  form ; 
if  he  did,  it  was  a  piece  of  conscious  archaizing  or  perhaps 
only  a  recognition  of  the  former  overwhelming  popularity 
of  the  ballade  in  courtly  circles. 

The  ballade  proper  was,  then,  no  longer  in  current  use 
in  England  in  the  last  three  quarters  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, nor  was  it  destined  to  reappear  in  English  poetry 
until  the  lapse  of  four  hundred  years.  In  France,  as  we 
have  seen,  its  peculiarities  engaged  students  of  poetic  theory 
for  at  least  two  centuries;  in  England,  however,  in  conse- 
quence of  its  short  and  comparatively  obscure  career,  it  is 
referred  to  in  its  fixed  form  by  only  two  Elizabethan 
critics,  George  Gascoigne  and  James  VI  of  Scotland.  Gas- 
coigne  evidently  is  thinking  of  an  entirely  different ' '  kinde  * ' 
when  he  explains : 

"  There  is  also  another  kinde,  called  Ballade,  and  thereof  are 
sundrie  sortes:  for  a  man  may  write  ballade  in  a  staffe  of  six 
lines,  every  line  conteyning  eighte  or  sixe  sillables,  whereof  the 
firste  and  third,  second  and  fourth  do  rime  acrosse,  and  the  fifth 
and  sixth  do  rime  togither  in  conclusion.  You  may  write  also 
your  ballad  of  tenne  syllables,  rimying  as  before  is  declared,  but 
these  two  were  wont  to  be  most  comonly  used  in  ballade,  which 
propre  name  was  (I  thinke)  derived  of  this  worde  in  Italian 
BcUlare,  whiche  signifieth  to  daunce,  and  indeed,  those  kinds  of 
rimes  serve  beste  for  daunces  and  light  matters."^® 

James  VI  of  Scotland,  however,  in  his  Essay es  of  a  Pren- 
tise  in  the  Divine  Art  of  Foesie,  gives  the  name  Ballat 

26  Later  in  conclusion  he  says:  "Ballades  are  beste  of  matters  of 
love."  Tradition  still  associated  the  ballade  with  love,  but  its  three 
stanzas,  refrain,  and  envoy  had  come  to  be  neglected  and  a  different 
stanzaic  form  associated  with  the  name.  Even  the  country  of  its 
provenience  was  ignored  (George  Gascoigne,  Certain  Notes  of  Instruc- 
tion, 1575).     Cf.  on  Halsam,  p.  226,  above. 


232  THE  BALLADE 

Royal  to  the  stanzas  most  popular  in  the  writing  of  bal- 
lades, namely  to  the  abahbcbc  stanza.  His  concep- 
tion of  the  uses  of  the  stanza  is  far  removed  from  the  French 
fixed  form,  but  may  be  reminiscent  of  the  recommendations 
of  certain  French  authorities  that  the  Chant  Royal  be 
dedicated  to  graver  purposes  than  the  ballade.^''  His  direc- 
tions are  as  follows : 

"For  any  heich  and  graue  subiectis,  specially  drawin  out  of 
leamit  authouris,  vse  this  kynde  of  verse  following,  eallit  Bailat 
Royal,  as 

That  nicht  he  celst,  and  went  to  bed,  bot  greind 
Zit  fast  for  day,  and  thocht  the  nicht  to  lang: 
At  last  Diana  domi  her  head  recleind. 
Into  the  sea.    Then  Lucifer  vpsprang, 
Aurora^s  post,  vvhome  sho  did  send  amang 
The  leittie  cludds,  for  to  foretell  ane  hour. 
Before  sho  stay  her  tears,  quhilk  Guide  sang 
Fell  for  her  loue,  quhilk  tumit  in  a  flour.''^^ 

Finally,  if  we  turn  to  Cotgrave's  dictionary,  so  useful  for 
word  meanings  of  the  early  seventeenth  century,*®  we  see 
that  for  Cotgrave's  contemporaries  balade  has  become 
merely  a  synonym  for  the  ballet.  Ballade  or  balade  cease 
to  figure  as  poetic  terms  till  the  eighteenth  century  revival 
of  interest  in  Middle  English,  and  the  form  itself  is  not 
again  attempted  in  English  till  the  last  thirty  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

27  See  Chapter  III. 

28  Revlis  and  Cautelis,  Essays  of  a  Prentise  in  the  Divine  Art  of 
Poesie   (Edinburgh,  1585). 

29Randle  Cotgrave,  A  Dictionarie  of  the  French  and  English 
Tongues  (London,  1611). 


THE   MIDDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  233 

II.    Chaucer 

In  the  Prologue  to  the  Fall  of  Princes,  Lydgate  wrote : 

"  This  sayd  Poete  my  master  in  his  dayes 
Made  and  compiled  ful  many  a  fresh  dittie. 
Complants,  ballades,  roudels,  vyrelayes 
Full  delectable  to  heare  and  to  se : 
For  whiche  men  should  of  ryght  and  equitie, 
Syth  he  in  englysh  in  making  was  the  best, 
'Pray  vnto  God  to  geue  his  soule  good  rest." 

And  with  lyrics,  wrought  in  the  French  fashion,  in  honor 
of  Love,  Alcestis  credits  Chaucer  in  both  prologues  to  the 
Legend  of  Good  Women. 

"And  many  an  ympne  for  your  halydayes. 
That  highten  Balades,  Roundels,  Virelayes."^** 

The  '^Virelayes"  have  vanished,  the  **  Roundels"  survive  in 
four  specimens  only,^^  but  the  Balades  are  still  extant  in 
sufficient  numbers  to  bear  witness  to  the  fact  that  this  kind 
of  poem  when  handled  delicately  and  withal  precisely  may 
be  worth  writing.  In  the  Oxford  Chaucer  canon,  there  are 
in  all  twelve  of  these  hallades.^^     In  addition,  there  is  a 

30  Prologue  A  G  to  the  Legend  of  Good  Women,  11.  410-411. 

31  Namely,  the  Eoundel  in  the  Parlement  of  Foules  and  the  three 
examples  in  Merciles  Beaute. 

32  w.  W.  Skeat,  The  Complete  Worlcs  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer  (Ox- 
ford, 1894).  These  ballades  are  found  in  Volume  I  on  the  following 
pages ; 

Fortune  (3  ballades),  p.  383. 
To  Sosamounde,  p.  389. 
Truth,  p.  390. 
Gentilesse,  p.  392. 
Lah  of  Stedfastnesse,  p.  394. 
The  Compleynt  of  Venus  (three  ballades),  p.  400. 
The  Compleint  of  Chaucer  to  his  Empty  Purse,  p.  405. 
Against  Women  Inconstant,  p.  409. 
—A  Balade  of  Compleynt,  p.  415. 


234  THE   BALLADE 

hallade  in  both  versions  of  the  Prologue  of  the  Legend  of 
Good  Women.^^ 

Furthermore,  of  this  list,  two  are  compound  ballades,  if 
we  may  use  the  term,  namely,  Fortune  and  The  Compleynt 
of  Venus.  The  former  comprises  really  three  ballades :  first, 
that  known  as  Le  Pleintif  countre  Fortune,  second.  La  Be- 
spounse  de  Fortune  au  Pleintif,  third.  La  Bespounse  du 
Pleintif  countre  Fortune  (the  la^st  two  stanzas  of  the  same 
balade  are  headed  La  Bespounse  de  Fortune  countre  le 
Pleintif),  and  finally,  Lenvoy  de  Fortune.^^  Each  of  the 
ballades  has  three  stanzas  of  eight  lines  each,  with  the  rime- 
scheme  ababbcbc,  and  the  rimes  are  identical  in  each 
of  the  three  stanzas.  The  envoy  is  a  stanza  of  seven  lines, 
riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  b.  The  seventh  line  shows  no  simi- 
larity to  any  one  of  the  three  refrains.  The  envoy  applies 
to  the  group  as  a  whole  rather  than  to  the  final  ballade  to 
which  it  is  attached.    Conventionally  the  first  line  invokes 

The  last  two  are  printed  in  the  Appendix  under  these  words:  '*The 
following  poems  are  also  probably  genuine,  but  are  placed  here  for 
lack  of  external  evidence."  Miss  E.  P.  Hammond  [Chaucer,  A.  Bib- 
liographical Manual  (New  York,  1908),  pp.  440^41],  following 
Furnivall  in  the  Chaucer  Society  Prints^  calls  Against  Women  In- 
constant, Newfanglenesse,  and  finds  no  mark  of  authorship  in  any  of 
the  manuscripts.  Nor,  according  to  the  authority  of  Miss  Hammond, 
is  there  any  mark  of  authorship  in  the  manuscripts  in  the  case  of 
A  Balade  of  Compleynt.  This  ballade,  however,  need  not  concern  us 
further,  since  it  is  merely  a  three  stanza  form,  written  in  rime  royal; 
the  rimes  in  every  stanza  differ  and  there  is  no  refrain  or  envoy. 

33  Prologue  A,  11.  203-223;  Prologue  B,  11.  249-269. 

34  Bodleian  MSS.  Fairfax  16,  Bodley  633,  and  Univ.  Lib.  Camb. 
MS.  li,  Hi,  21,  head  this  triple  hallade  "Balade  (s)  de  vilage  saunz 
peynture.  Cf.  E.  P.  Hammond,  Chaucer,  A  Bibliographical  Manual 
(New  York,  1908),  p.  369.  Bradshaw,  basing  his  emendation  on 
Boethius,  "This  like  Fortune  hath  departed  and  uncovered  to  thee 
both  the  certain  visages,  and  eke  the  doutous  visages  of  thyne 
felawes,"  [Cf.  F.  J.  Furnivall,  Trial-Forewords,  London,  1871,  p.  8, 
note.]     Changed  vilage  to  visage. 


THE  MroDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  235 

** Princes,"  but  the  royalty  addressed  is  probably  literary, 
not  literal.  The  fourth  line  runs : ' '  at  my  requeste,  as  three 
of  you  or  tweyne,"  specifying  the  number  called  upon. 
Skeat  says :  * '  If  the  reference  is  to  the  Dukes  of  Lancaster, 
York,  and  Gloucester,  then  the  'beste  frend'  must  be  the 
king  himself.  "^^  The  nicety  of  metrical  structure  is  here 
no  obstacle  to  the  poet.  The  most  striking  features  of  the 
poem  are  rather  its  insistence  on  the  adequacy  of  the  indi- 
vidual to  cope  with  things;  the  challenge  contained  in  the 
line,  ''for  fynally.  Fortune,  I  thee  defye";  and  the  boast 
that,  ' '  he  that  hath  himself  hath  suffisaunce. '  * 

One's  first  instinct  is  to  search  old  records  and  accounts 
to  discover  whether  Chaucer  did  ''unlock  his  heart"  here 
with  a  ballade-key.  Furnivall,  indeed,  once  speculated;^'' 
"I  suppose  Chaucer  wrote  his  Fortune  when  he  was  him- 
self 'ensample  trewe  and  newe,'  of  the  Goddess's  caprice, 
fit  to  be  added  to  his  'ensamples  trewe  and  olde'  of  his 
Monk's  Tale.  When  sued  by  Mrs.  Buckholt  in  Easter  Term, 
1398,  and  getting  Letters  of  Protection  against  her  and 
other  enemies  at  law  in  that  year's  May,  Chaucer  might  well 
change  his  note  from  the  Daisy  and  Lady  of  the  Legende, 
to  the  False  Dissembler  who  had  left  him  in  the  lurch,  and 
who  later,  on  July  24  and  31,  1398,  reduced  him  to  borrow 
6s.  8d.  each  day  from  the  Exchequer.  But  Chaucer  is 
cheery  still.  He  has  not  so  fallen  that  'there  is  no  remedye 
to  bring  him  out  of  his  adversitie. '  He  seems  to  recur  to  his 
Truth's  'Suffise  J?yn  owen  J?ing,  \>ei  it  be  smal,'  and  says 
'his  suffysaunce  shall  be  his  socour,'  he  has  the  mastery 

35  W.  W.  Skeat,  Opus  Cit.,  Vol.  I,  p.  547.  According  to  the  same 
authority,  the  line  of  the  envoy  quoted  occurs  only  in  Cambridge 
University  Library  MS.  li,  3.  21,  but  is  probably  due  to  the  author's 
revision. 

36  F.  J.  Furnivall,  A  Parallel-Text  Edition  of  Chaucer's  Minor 
Poems  (London,  no  date),  Part  III,  p.  439. 


236   ,  THE  BALLADE 

over  himself,  and  knows  that  'no  man  is  wrechyd  but  hym- 
self  yt  wene, '  and  that  he  has  yet  his  best  friend  alive.  No 
lucky  side-note  tells  who  his  friend  then  was,  though  we 
know  that  Henry  Bolingbroke,  Blanche's  son,  with  her 
sweet  soft  speech,  provd  the  poet's  helper." 

In  view  of  the  conventional  treatment  of  Lady  Fortune 
in  Dante,^^  in  the  Consolation  of  Philosophy  of  Boethius.^^ 
in  the  Roman  de  la  Bose,^^  it  is  impossible  to  insist  strongly 
on  the  autobiographical  revelation  in  Fortune.  It  was  cus- 
tomary all  through  the  Middle  Ages  to  write  of  Fortune's 
Wheel  in  a  highly  figurative  way.*^  Plainly,  in  this  triple 
ballade,  Chaucer  was  making  use  of  a  popular  French 
verse  form ;  he  was  using  it,  moreover,  to  incorporate  ideas 
derived  from  the  Roman  de  la  Rose,^^  and  from  the  Conso- 
lation of  Philosophy .^^  Yet,  granted  that  the  form  is  fixed^^ 
and  that  the  ideas  in  the  main  are  commonplace,  is  Chaucer's 
dramatic  assertion  of  his  valiancy  in  the  face  of  disaster 
any  less  effective  ? 

Chaucer's  other  triple  ballade,  the  Compleynt  of  Venus, 

37  J.  S.  P.  Tatlock,  Chaucer  and  Dante,  Modern  Philology,  III, 
p.  369. 

88  G.  W.  Prothero,  A  Memoir  of  Henry  Bradshaw  (London,  1880), 
p.  212. 

39  E.  Koeppel,  Chauceriana,  Anglia,  XIV,  p.  248. 

*o  Cf.  Carmina  Bur  ana,  Poem  I  and  Provencal  lyrics  passim. 

^1  English  version  (attributed  to  Chaucer),  11.  5403-5584. 

42  W.  W.  Skeat,  The  Complete  WorJcs  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer  (Oxford, 
1894),  Vol.  I,  p.  543,  says  that  Boethius'  De  Consolatione,  Bk.  II,  prose 
1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  8,  and  metre  1,  is  the  foundation. 

*8F.  J.  Furnivall,  A  Parallel-Text  Selection  of  Chaucer's  Minor 
Poems  (London),  Part  III,  p.  439,  note:  ''Tho  Shirley  says 
this  Fortune  was  'translated  out  of  Frenshe  into  English,^  yet  no 
French  original  has  yet  been  found  for  it;  and  if  ever  one  turns  up, 
I  believe  it'll  prove  an  original  after  the  manner  of  the  Boece,  Metre 
V,  Book  2,  for  the  Former  Age,  and  0  intemerata  for  the  Mother  of 
God  rather  than  one  like  De  Guileville's  Virgin  poem  for  the  A  B  C." 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  237 

differs  somewhat  in  form  from  Fortune.  Each  of  the  bcU- 
lades  in  the  Compleynt  of  Venus  is  made  up  of  eight-line 
stanzas,  too,  but  in  this  case  they  rime  ababbccb.  The 
rimes  are,  of  course,  identical  within  each  of  the  three  bal- 
lades. The  envoy  has  ten  lines  riming  aabaabbaab 
independent  of  the  three  preceding  ballades.  Only  the 
envoy  is  original.  The  MSS.  vary  between  Princesse  and 
Princes^^  in  the  first  line  of  the  envoy.  A  note  of  Shirley's 
in  one  of  the  manuscripts*^  reads:  ''Hit  is  sayde  that 
Graunsone  made  this  last  balade  for  Venus,  resembled  to 
my  Lady  of  York;  answering  the  complaynt  of  Mars." 
Piaget,  in  his  articles  on  Granson,''^  discusses  Shirley's  note 
in  the  light  of  those  ballades  of  Granson's  that  served  as 
Chaucer's  original,  and  comes  to  the  conclusion*^  that  Gran- 

44  w.  W.  Skeat,  Complete  WorTcs  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer  (Oxford, 
1894),  Vol.  I,  p.  404,  foot-notes;  p.  561. 

45  Trinity  College,  Cambridge  MS.  B.  3.  SO. 

46  A.  Piaget,  Oton  de  Granson  et  ses  Poesies,  Bomania,  XIX,  237- 
259;   403-448. 

47  The  steps  which  led  to  these  conclusions  may  be  summarized  as 
follows:  According  to  Shirley,  the  Compleynt  of  Mars  was  composed 
by  Chaucer  for  Isabelle,  Duchess  of  York,  daughter  of  Don  Pedro  of 
Castille.  This  princess  was  designated  in  the  poem  under  the  name 
of  Venus,  and  Mars  represented  John  Holland,  Count  of  Huntingdon, 
later  Duke  of  Exeter,  ^'frere  uterin  de  Richard  II.''  At  the  end 
of  the  Compleynt  of  Venus,  in  MS.  T  of  the  works  of  Chaucer  (Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  B.  3.  20),  Shirley  put  the  following  note:  ''Hit 
is  sayde  that  Graunsone  made  this  last  'balade  for  Venus,  resembled 
to  my  lady  of  York ;  answering  the  complaynt  of  Mars. ' '  If  this  were 
true,  it  would  mean  that  Granson,  having  read  the  Compleynt  of  Mars 
during  one  of  his  visits  in  England,  had  responded  with  a  Compleynt 
of  Venus  also  addressed  to  the  Duchess  of  York.  And  this  great 
lady,  who  in  this  case  would  be  the  Venus  of  both  complaints,  must 
have  begged  Chaucer  to  translate  into  English  Granson's  little  poem. 
Skeat,  relying  on  Shirley's  notes,  puts  the  date  of  the  Compleynt  of 
Mars  at  about  1374  and  as  the  date  for  the  composition  and  trans- 


238  THE  BALLADE 

son  never  wrote  a  poem  or  poems  called  the  Compleynt  of 
Venus,  but  that  he  had,  in  his  youth — in  1393  he  was  over 
fifty — composed  ballades  on  the  occasion  of  an  unhappy 
love,  that  Chaucer  chose  three  of  them,  translated  them, 
and  combined  them  as  one  poem.  In  this  form,  according 
to  Piaget,  there  is  no  question  of  either  Venus  or  Mars ;  and 
it  must  be  admitted  that  the  title  of  Compleynt  of  Venus 
is  not  Chaucer's  but  Shirley's.  Piaget  points  out  that  the 
lady,  who  in  the  complaint  praises  the  cavalier,  her  friend, 
speaks  in  terms  very  inappropriate  to  Venus.  Why  should 
Venus  say : 

"  But  certes,  Love,  I  sey  nat  in  such  wyse 
That  for  tescape  out  of  your  lace  I  mente." 

He  holds  that  Shirley  was  mistaken ;  that  the  so-called  Com- 
pleynt of  Venus  has  really  nothing  to  do  with  the  Com- 
pleynt of  Mars,  but  that  nothing  prevents  our  assuming  that 
Chaucer  translated,  as  one  may  conclude  from  Shirley's 
note,  the  three  ballades  of  Granson  at  the  demand  of  the 
Duchess  of  York. 

Piaget  calls  attention,  too,  to  the  extremely  significant 
change  of  viewpoint  in  Chaucer's  translation  or  adaptation. 
In  the  original  it  is  the  man  praising  his  mistress;  in  the 
Middle  English  version  it  is  the  woman  eulogizing  her 
lover.     The  conclusions  of  Piaget  are  generally  accepted. 

These  three  ballades,  close  as  they  are  to  Granson 's,  ex- 
hibit much  original  dramatic  ability  on  Chaucer's  part. 

lation  of  the  Compleynt  of  Venus  about  1393,  just  at  the  time 
when  Granson,  compromised  by  the  death  of  Comte  Eouge,  fled  his 
country  and  secured  a  pension  in  England  from  Richard  II. 

The  different  tone  in  the  complaints  might  have  cast  some  doubt 
on  the  affirmations  of  Shirley.  Much  good  will  is  necessary  to  make 
one  see  in  Granson 's  three  ballades  an  answer  to  an  English  poem, 
filled  with  astronomical  allusions. 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  239 

He  seems  to  have  understood  and  expressed  a  mental  atti- 
tude highly  characteristic  of  one  type  of  woman,  and  a  type, 
indeed,  probably  most  acceptable  to  the  modern  as  well  as 
to  the  mediaeval  man,  namely: 

"  Thus  oghte  I  blesse  well  myn  aventure, 
Sith  that  him  list  me  serven  and  honoure." 

To  Bosemounde^^  (a  title  given  by  Skeat)  is  a  single 
ballade.  Although  it  appears  with  the  unquestioned  poems 
in  the  Oxford  edition  edition  of  Chaucer's  works,  its  posi- 
tion there  is  guaranteed  rather  by  the  character  of  the 
poem  itself  than  by  external  evidence.^^  There  are  three 
stanzas  of  the  common  rime-scheme  ababbcbc  and 
no  envoy.  The  refrain  runs,  ''Thogh  ye  to  me  ne  do  no 
daliaunce,'*  and  refers  to  the  aloofness  of  Rosemounde. 
The  ballade  is  vers  de  societe  in  the  gayest  vein  with  mock 
heroic  touches: 

"Nas  never  pyk  walwed  in  galauntyne 
As  I  in  love  am  walwed  and  y-wounde; 
For  which  ful  ofte  I  of  my-self  di^^ne 
That  I  am  trewe  Tristam  the  secounde."^® 

48  w.  W.  Skeat,  Complete  Works  of  Geofrey  Chaucer  (Oxford, 
1894),  Vol.  I,  p.  389. 

*9  E.  P.  Hammond,  Chaucer,  A  Bibliographical  Manual  (New  York, 
1908),  p.  460:  "The  MS.  which  also  contains  the  Troilus,  writes 
below  the  poem  'Tregentil.  Chaucer,'  the  two  names  'a  considerable 
distant  apart/  Oxford  Chaucer  I:  81.  This  poem  appears  on  the 
flyleaf  of  the  MS.,  and  the  Troilus  has,  according  to  Skeat,  the  same 
two  names  written,  one  just  before,  the  other  just  after,  the  colophon. 
Skeat  considers  that  by  '  Tregentil '  is  meant  the  scribe.  Accepted  by 
Koch  as  genuine,  p.  41  of  Chronology. ' ' 

50  E.  P.  Hammond,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  461 :  Koch  places  this  poem  about 
1380-84. 


240  THE  BALLADE 

Truth,  or  the  Balade  de  Bon  Conseyl,^^  has  three  seven- 
line  stanzas,  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  e,  and  an  envoy  of  seven 
lines  riming  similarly.  The  title  of  the  ballade  is  variously 
given  as  Balade  de  hon  conseyl,^^  La  hon  Counseil  de  le 
Auctour,^^  Moral  balade  of  Chanicyre.^^  In  one  of  the 
manuscripts,^^  Shirley  calls  it  a  ^^ Balade  that  Chancier 
made  on  his  deeth-bedde. '  '^^ 

Again,  as  in  the  case  of  Fortune,  the  main  source  of  the 
poem  seems  to  be  Boethius.^^     Indeed,  in  lines  8  and  9, 

"  Tempest  thee  noght  al  croked  to  redresse, 
In  trust  of  hir  that  turneth  as  a  bal," 

we  have  another  reference  to  the  medieval  conception  of 
Fortune 's  wheel.     The  refrain, 

"  And  trouthe  shal  delivere,  hit  is  no  drede," 

was  no  doubt  suggested  by,  "The  truth  shall  make  you 
free''  {John,YIlI,  32). 

siW.  W.  Skeat,  Complete  Worlcs  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer  (Oxford, 
1894),  Vol.  I,  p.  390.  Cf.  p.  82:  The  envoy  occurs  only  in  British 
Museum  MS.  Additional  10340.  According  to  Skeat,  the  envoy  ''may 
have  been  suppressed  owing  to  a  misunderstanding  of  the  word  vache 
(cow),  the  true  sense  of  which  is  a  little  obscure.  The  reference  is  to 
Boethius,  bk.  V,  met.  5,  where  it  is  explained  that  quadrupeds  look 
down  upon  the  earth,  whilst  man  alone  looks  up  toward  heaven. ' '  Cf ., 
however,  Edith  Rickert,  Thou  Vache,  Modern  Philology,  XI,  p.  209. 
In  this  article,  VoA^he  is  shown  to  refer  to  Sir  Phillip  la  Vache  or  de 
la  Vache,  a  contemporary  of  Chaucer's. 

52  Cambridge  University  Library  Ms.  Gg.  4.  27. 

53  British  Museum  Ms.  Lansdowne  699. 
C4  British  Museum  Ms.  Harley  7333. 

55  Trinity  College,  Cambridge  Ms.  B.  S.  SO. 

66  W.  W.  Skeat,  Complete  Works  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer  (Oxford, 
1894),  Vol.  I,  p.  82.  Skeat  characterizes  this  statement  as  "probably 
a  mere  bad  guess.''  F.  J.  Furnivall,  Trial  Forewords  (London, 
1871),  pp.  8-9,  gives  date  as  1386  or  1388. 

57  Bk.  Ill,  met.  11;  bk.  I,  pr.  5;  etc. 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  241 

The  tone  of  the  Balade  de  Bon  Conseyl  contrasts  strongly 
with  the  tone  in  Fortune, 

"  That  thee  is  sent,  receyve  in  buxumnesse, 
The  wrastling  for  this  worlde  axeth  a  f al," 

is  the  expression  of  failure  and  discouragement;  it  is  not 
the  cry  of  one  who  would  say, 

"I  was  ever  a  fighter,  so — one  fight  more. 
The  best  and  the  last ! " 

Gentilesse,^^  a  Moral  Balade  of  Chaucier,^^  is  a  poem  of 
three  seven-line  stanzas,  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c,  with  no  envoy. 
The  refrain,  '*A1  were  he  mytre,  croune,  or  diademe,"  is 
repeated  without  variation  at  the  close  of  every  stanza. 
Both  FurnivalP^  and  Koch^^  place  the  date  of  composition 
after  1390.  The  ideas  in  Gentilesse,  as  in  the  case  notably 
of  Fortune,  presented  themselves  to  Chaucer's  mind  from 
the  Consolation  of  Philosophy^^  and  from  the  Roman  de  la 
Rose.^^  Chaucer  took  his  theory  of  Gentilesse  from  con- 
es w.  W.  Skeat,  Complete  Works  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer  (Oxford, 
1894),  Vol.  I,  p.  392. 

59  British  Museum  Ms.  7333. 

60  F.  J.  Fumivall,  Trial-Forewords  (London,  1871),  p.  12;  p.  17. 

61  John  Koch,  Chronology  of  Chaucer's  Writings  (London,  1890), 
p.  79. 

62  E.  P.  Hammond,  Chaucer:  A  Bibliographical  Manual  (New  York, 
1908),  p.  372.  ** Skeat  I:  553  gives  as  groundwork  Boethius  bk.  Ill, 
prose  6;  cp.  Eoman  de  la  Bose,  18807  ff.;  see  W.B.  Tale  253  fif., 
Dante,  Purgatorio  7:  121,  Convito  IV  canzone  3.  These  refs.  were 
pointed  out  by  F.  J.  Child  in  Athen.  1870  II:  721,  with  mention  also 

of  Gower,  Conf.  Amantis  IV:  2200  ff., A  Bis  de  Gentilesse  is  in 

the  Works  of  de  Conde  III:  97. ''  [This  last  poem  proves  on  examina- 
tion to  have  nothing  in  common  with  Chaucer's  'ballade.']  H.  M.  Ayres 
of  Columbia  Universitj  holds  that  'Hhe  discussion  of  the  nature  of 
true  nobility  .  .  .  which  Tyrwhitt  credits  Boethius  with  having  set 
abroad  in  the  Middle  Ages,  proves  to  contain  much  that  antedates  the 

17 


242  THE  BALLADE 

temporary  standards,  yet  his  application  of  the  theory  is 
his  own. 

In  Lak  of  Stedfastnesse^^  Chaucer  used  the  French  form 
with  an  animus  different  from  that  found  in  his  other  bal- 
lades. In  Fortune,  in  Truth,  and  in  Gentilesse  he  uses  the 
ballade  seriously,  it  is  true,  but  in  Lak  of  Stedfastnesse  he 
makes  it  a  means  of  expressing  the  social  confusion  and  the 
unrest  of  his  day.  This  ballade  contains  three^*  seven-line 
stanzas,  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c,  and  an  envoy  stanza,  rim- 
ing in  the  same  way.  The  refrain,  *'That  al  is  lost  for 
lak  of  stedfastnesse, ' '  occurs  at  the  end  of  all  the  stanzas, 
but  appears  as,  "And  wed  thy  folk  again  to  stedfastnesse," 
at  the  end  of  the  envoy.  According  to  one  manuscript,*** 
* '  This  balade  made  Geffrey  Chaunciers  the  Laurealle  Poete 
of  Albion  and  sente  it  to  his  souerain  lorde  kynge  Richarde 
the  secounde  ]?ane  being  /  in  his  Castell  of  Windesore.  "** 
On  the  date  of  this  ballade,  Furnivall  enumerating  says: 
* '  Then  the  Lack  of  Steadfastness — evidently  written  in  the 
later  years  of  Richard  II 's  reign,  and  probably  in  1397, 
when  the  king  had  his  uncle  the  Duke  of  Gloucester  seized 
and  murdered,  also  seized  the  Earl  of  Warwick  and  Arundel, 
and  got  his  Parliament  (who  doubtless  hoped  he'd  mend 
his  ways)  to  do  all  he  wisht."*^  If  the  poem  was  dispatched 
to  the  king  at  this  epoch  in  his  activities,  the  sentiments  of 
the  envoy  are  certainly  timely.  Chaucer,  as  has  often  been 
remarked,  only  occasionally  reflects  the  social  discontents 

Consolations  of  Philosophy,  and  provides  an  excellent  example  of  a 
literary  commonplace  of  which  Classical  Antiquity,  the  Middle  Ages, 
and  the  Renaissance  alike  made  abundant  use. ' ' 

63  w.  W.  Skeat,  Complete  Works  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer  (Oxford, 
1894),  Vol.  I,  p.  394. 

64  Bannatyne  MS.  1568  inserts  a  spurious  fourth  stanza. 

65  British  Museum  MS.  Barley  7SSS. 

66  E.  P.  Hammond,  Chaucer ^  A  Biographical  Manual  (New  York, 
1908),  p.  394. 

«7P.  J.  rurnivall,  Trial  Fore-Words  (London,  1871),  p.  8. 


THE   MIDDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  243 

of  his  day ;  his  outlook  on  life  is  plainly  not  that  of  a  pro- 
fessional reformer,  but  certainly  in  this  ballade  he  pauses  to 
analyse  the  source  of  evil  in  his  age.  If  the  general  idea 
of  the  ballade  be  taken  from  Boethius,  Bk.  II,  met.  8,  one 
can  only  say  that  the  old  philosopher's  reflections  merely 
furnished  Chaucer  with  a  point  of  departure. 

The  Compleynt  of  Chaucer  to  his  Empty  Purse^^  is  also 
composed  of  three  seven-line  stanzas.  Again,  as  usual,  the 
rimes  are  identical  in  all  three  stanzas ;  the  scheme  is  a  b  a 
b  b  c  c.  There  is  an  envoy  of  five  lines  riming  a  a  b  b  a.®^ 
The  refrain  of  the  three  stanzas  is  not  used  in  the  envoy. 
There  are,  however,  two  other  forms  in  which  the  poem 
is  found,  namely,  in  three  seven-line  stanzas  without  an 
envoy, ^®  and  also  without  the  envoy  but  with  a  series  of 
seven-line  stanzas  on  imprisonment  following.'^ ^  The  en- 
voy'^ is  usually  considered  the  last  piece  of  writing  done  by 
Chaucer,  for  it  contains  a  direct  appeal  to  Henry  IV,  who 
was  accepted  by  Parliament  September  30, 1399 ;  as  a  result 
of  the  poet's  appeal,  he  was  in  all  probability  granted  an 
additional  forty  marks  yearly  on  October  third  or  thirteenth 
of  the  same  year.'^^ 

Skeat  suggests  that  a  similar  complaint  was  addressed  to 
the  French  king,  John  II,  by  Guillaume  de  Machaut  in 
1351-6,  in  short  rimed  lines,  but  adds,  "the  real  model  which 
Chaucer  had  in  view  was,  in  my  opinion,  the  Ballade  ...  by 

68  W.  W.  Skeat,  Complete  WorTcs  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer  (Oxford, 
1894),  Vol.  I,  p.  404. 

69  Bodleian  MS.  Fairfax  16. 

70  British  Museum  MS.  Additional  22139. 

71  British  Museum  MSS.  Harley  2251  and  Additional  34360.  See 
E.  P.  Hammond,  Lament  of  a  Prisoner  against  Fortune,  Anglia, 
XXXII,  p.  481,  ff. 

72  In  British  Museum  MS.  Harley  7333,  Purse  is  headed  ' '  A  sup- 
plicacion  to  Kyng  Eichard  by  Chaucier.  * ' 

73  W.  W.  Skeat,  Complete  Works  of  Chaucer  (Oxford,  1894),  Vol.  I, 
p.  562.    Cf.  also  E.  Fliigel,  Chauceriana  Minora,  Anglia,  XXI,  p.  245. 


244  THE  BALLADE 

Bustache  Deschamps,  .  .  .  written  on  a  similar  occasion, 
viz.  after  the  death  of  Charles  V  of  France,  and  the  acces- 
sion of  Charles  VI,  who  had  promised  Deschamps  a  pension 
but  had  not  paid  it. '  '^*  Apparently  both  Deschamps^^  and 
Chaucer  were  prompted  to  write  by  similar  circumstances, 
and  both  poets,  like  ordinary  men  who  are  impoverished, 
cherished  similar  sentiments.  But  Chaucer  may  quite 
easily  have  written  his  complaint  without  having  been  famil- 
iar with  Deschamps 's  cheerless  ballade.  The  French  and 
the  English  poems  show  little  similarity  in  metrical  struc- 
ture. The  former  has  three  eight-line  stanzas,  riming  a  b 
a  b  b  c  b  c,  and  a  six-line  envoy  riming  b  b  c  b  c  b;  the 
latter,  as  we  have  noticed,  three  seven-line  stanzas  (aba 
b  b  c  c),  and  a  five-line  envoy  (a  a  b  b  a).  In  subject 
matter,  even,  the  poems  show  only  accidental  and  factitious 
similarities.  Chaucer  apostrophizes  his  purse  as  his  "ladye 
dere**;  he  supplicates  her  to  be  his  "queene  of  comfort"; 
he  appeals  to  her  *'curtyse.''    His  refrain  is  ever, 

"  Beth  hevy  ageyn,  or  elles  mot  I  dye." 

It  is  only  in  the  envoy  that  the  appeal  to  a  royal  patron 
comes.  On  the  contrary,  in  Deschamps *s  ballade,  there  are 
throughout  the  stanzas  repeated  references  to  pensions  and 
kingly  bounties  in  the  past  and  repeated  plaints  of  neglect. 
It  is  a  whining,  not  a  whimsical  kind  of  poverty  that  the 
Frenchman  sings  of,  with  a  somewhat  sordidly  worded 
refrain : 

"  Mais  du  paier  n'y  sgay  voie  ne  tour." 

The  claims  of  Machaut's  Complaint e,"^^  addressed  to  John 

74  w.  W.  Skeat,  Complete  Works  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer  (Oxford, 
1894),  Vol.  I,  pp.  562-563. 

■^sLe  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire,  (Euvres  Computes  de 
Bustache  Deschamps  (Paris,  1880),  Vol.  II,  p.  81. 

T«V.  Chichmaref,  Chiillaume  de  Machaut,  Poesies  Lyriques,  (Paris, 
1909),  Vol.  I,  p.  262. 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  245 

II  of  France,  to  be  considered  as  a  source  of  The  Compleynt 
of  Chaucer  to  his  Empty  Purse  are  unimportant.  It  is  to 
be  noted  in  tliis  connection  again  that  there  are  certain 
conventions  that  have  always  been  well  recognized  in  a 
state  of  society  where  poetry  flourished  under  patronage, 
and  these  conventions  are  common  alike  to  Chaucer's  com- 
plaint and  the  poems  of  Deschamps  and  Machaut.  Ma- 
chaut's  detailed  account  of  his  own  infirmities  and  very 
definite  appeal  for  amount  denied  do  not  suggest  Chaucer's 
lyric  vein  at  all. 

Against  Women  Inconstant, "^"^  as  Stow'®  named  it,  or 
Newfanglenesse,  as  it  is  called  by  Furnivall,'^  employs  the 
seven-line  stanza  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c,  has  three  stanzas 
and  no  envoy.  The  refrain,  ''In  stede  of  blew,  thus  may 
ye  were  al  grene,"  is  an  adaptation  of  Machaut 's,  ''Qu'en 
lieu  de  bleu.  Dame,  vous  vestez  vert."®^  Beside  this  simi- 
larity, the  French  and  the  English  hallade  are,  alike  in 
stanza  form  and  in  the  absence  of  an  envoy.  But  they  are 
dissimilar  in  tone.  Chaucer  grimly  arraigns  a  lady  in  the 
wholesouled  fashion  so  popular  in  the  Middle  Ages,  when 
satire  alternated  with  adulation,  whereas  Machaut 's  re- 
proaches are  without  spirit  in  comparison,  and  his  theme  is 
the  havoc  wrought  in  his  constitution  by  the  fickleness  of 
his  dame.®^ 

77  W.  W.  Skeat,  Complete  Worls  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer  (Oxford, 
1894),  Vol.  I,  p.  409. 

78  E.  P.  Hammond,  Chaucer,  A  Bibliographical  Manual  (New  York, 
1908),  p.  441. 

79  In  Chaucer  Society  Print. 

80  V.  Chiclmiaref,  Guillaume  de  Machaut,  Podsies  Lyriques  (Paris, 
1909),  Vol  I,  p.  218. 

81  The  letter  that  follows  is  what  ' '  she  said ' '  on  the  receipt  of 
Machaut 's  ballade.  Agnes  of  Navarre  (?)  wrote  her  lover:  "Mon- 
tres  doulz  cuer,  man  tris  chier  et  doulz  ami, — Je  ai  vue  une  balade 
en  laquelle  il  ha:  en  lieu  de  blan,  Dame,  vous  vestes  vert.     Et  se  ne 


246  THE   BALLADE 

In  1894  Skeat  issued  what  is  generally  accepted®^  as  a 
genuine  Chaucerian  ballade,  Womanly  Nohlesse.^^  It  has 
three  nine-line  stanzas,  riming  a  a  b  a  a  b  h  a  b,  and  an 
envoy  riming  a  c  a  c  a  a.  The  envoy  and  each  of  the 
three  stanzas  end  differently.  If  this  ballade  is  Chaucer's, 
he  certainly  departs  widely  from  his  usual  custom  of  fol- 
lowing closely  the  fixed  French  form.  There  is  no  such 
thing  as  transcending  form  if  the  artistic  problem  is  to 
restrain  the  development  of  the  theme  by  the  exigencies  of 
a  certain  fixed  type.  Chaucer,  if  it  be  Chaucer,  certainly 
gained  nothing  by  the  looseness  of  construction  in  his  poem. 
To  a  fifteenth  century  reader  it  must  have  been  annoying 
to  be  disappointed  of  a  refrain  at  the  end  of  every  stanza. 
Koch's  doubts  of  the  authenticity  of  the  poem  do  not  rest, 
however,  on  the  looseness  of  the  ballade.^* 

say  pour  qui  vous  le  feystes.  Car  se  ce  fu  pour  moi,  vous  avez  tort. 
Car,  f  oy  que  je  doi  a  vous  que  j  'aime  de  tout  mon  cuer,  unques  puis- 
que,  vous  meystes  et  envelopastes  mon  cuer  en  fin  azur  et  1  'enf ermates 
au  tresor  dont  vous  avez  la  clef,  il  ne  fut  changies  ne  sera  toute  ma 
vie.  Car  si  je  volois  bien  ne  le  porrois  je  faire  sans  vous;  car  moi 
ne  autre  n'en  porte  la  clef  que  vous.  Si  en  po6s  estre  k  seur,  comma 
se  vous  le  teniez  en  vostre  main.  Mon  chier  ami  je  vous  pri  que  vous 
me  veuillez  renvoier  pas  ce  message  le  commencement  de  vostre  livre 
cellui  que  je  vous  renvoiai  piece  ha,  car  je  n'en  retins  point  de  copie 
et  1  'ai  trop  grant  fain  de  veoir.  Et  si  les  lettres  sont  mal  escriptes  si 
le  me  pardonn^s,  car  je  ne  trouve  mie  notaire  tous jours  a  ma  volenti. 
Escript  le  X"  jour  d'octembre.    Vostre  tr^s  loiale  amie. " 

[P.  Tarbe,  CEuvres  de  Guilaume  de  Machault  (Paris,  1849),  p.  151; 
hlan  is  probably  a  misreading  for  hleu  in  some  form.] 

82Kittredge  in  Nation,  1895,  p.  240.  W.  W.  Skeat,  Chaucer 
Canon  (Oxford,  1900),  p.  147.  Koch,  Englische  Studien,  XXVII,  p. 
60;  XXX,  p.  450. 

83  w.  W.  Skeat,  Complete  Works  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer  (Oxford, 
1900),  Vol.  IV,  p.  XXV. 

84  J.  Koch,  Englische  Studien,  XXVII,  p.  60,  says:  "  ' Balade 
that  Chancier  made'  .  .  .  metrisch  (z.  b.  v.  5  und  25)  und  inhaltlich 
zu  diirf tig  ist,  als  dass  wir  der  iiberschrift  glauben  schenken  konnten. '  * 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  247 

The  two  verses  that  Koch  selects  for  special  reprobation 
are  rough  specimens :  1.  5,  *  *  So  wel  me  lyketh  your  womanly 
contenaunce";  1.  24,  **In  ful  rebating  of  my  hevinesse." 
But  better  evidence  of  the  spuriousness  of  the  poem,  to 
my  mind,  is  the  fact  that  in  his  other  ballades  Chaucer  shows 
a  stronger  artistic  consciousness  of  the  restrictions  of  the 
French  type. 

In  the  Prologue  to  the  Legend  of  Good  Women^^  occurs 
what  is  probably  the  best  known  of  Chaucer's  ballades. 
The  version  in  the  A  Text  differs  in  some  minor  ways  from 
that  in  the  B  Text,  but  the  two  differ  radically  in  the 
refrain.  Both  versions  of  the  ballade  are  made  up  of  three 
seven-line  stanzas  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c.  There  is  no  en- 
voy. In  the  A  version,  the  refrain  runs,  '^Alceste  is  here, 
that  al  that  may  desteyne";  in  the  B  version,  '*My  Lady 
Cometh,  that  al  this  may  disteyne."  The  most  striking 
feature  of  the  poem  is  its  use  of  proper  names.  The  French 
ballade  writers  conventionally  introduced  these  lists,  which 
were  in  reality  a  medieval  device  for  throwing  a  glamour 
of  romance  about  the  subject.  The  following  lines  in  a 
ballade  printed  among  Les  Pieces  Attribuahles  a  De- 
schamps^^  will  illustrate  the  convention: 

"  Hester,  Judith,  Penelope,  Helaine, 
Sarra,  Tisbe,  Rebeque  et  Sarry, 
Lucresce,  Yseult,  Genevre,  chastellaine. 
La  tres  loyal  nominee  de  Vergy, 
Rachel  aussi,  la  dame  de  Fayel 
One  ne  furent  sy  precieux  jouel 
D'onneur,  bonte,  senz,  beaute  et  valour 
Con  est  ma  tres  doulce  dame  d'onnour. 

Se  d'Absalon  la  grant  beaute  humaine,"  etc. 

85  W.  W.  Skeat,  Complete  Worlcs  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer  (Oxford, 
1894),  Vol.  Ill,  p.  83. 

86  G.  Eaynaud,  CEuvres  Completes  de  Eustache  Deschamps  (Paris, 
1901),  Vol.  X,  p.  xlix. 


248  THE  BALLADE 

The  resemblance  between  these  nine  lines  of  a  ballade 
attributed  to  Deschamps  and  Chaucer's  ballade  in  the 
Legend  of  Good  Women  has  been  noted  by  Skeat.^^  He 
does  not  pretend  to  say  whether  the  French  writer  or 
Chaucer  originated  this  particular  catalogue  of  famous 
beauties  who  were,  according  to  both  poets,  inferior  to  the 
particular  lady  of  their  praise.  In  innumerable  other 
poems  of  the  period,  chiefly  French,  but  occasionally  Eng- 
lish, the  author  enumerates  individuals  whom  the  subject  of 
the  poem  either  equals  or  surpasses.  For  purposes  of  illus- 
tration take  Deschamps 's  Rondel  :^^ 

"Dame  a  Judith  et  Hester  comparee, 
A  Eccuba  et  Rebecque  autrecy, 

De  loyaulte  a  Sarre  equipolee, 
Dame  a  Judith  et  Hester  comparee, 

De  bonne  meurs  a  Seneque  paree, 
Mon  cuer  vous  donne;  aiez  de  moy  mercy, 
Dame  a  Judith  et  Hester  comparee, 
A  Eccuba  et  Rebecque  autrecy;" 

or  the  ballade  of  Deschamps  in  which  a  lady  praises  her 
ami: 

"A  Salomon  puet  estre  comparez 
Pour  son  savoir;  de  beaute  ensement 
A  Absalon;  et  de  force  parez 
Au  roy  Hector  et  Sanson  proprement; 
A  Seneques  de  meurs,  d'enseignement ; 
Et  a  Paris,  qui  bien  d' amours  joy; 
Mais  d^eulz  trestous  est  nul  le  parlement, 
Aux  grans  vertus  de  mon  loyal  amy."^^ 

87  W.  W.   Skeat,  Complete  Works  of  Geoffrey  Chaucer   (Oxford, 
1894),  Vol.  Ill,  p.  298. 

88  G.  Eaynaud,  (Euvres  Computes  de  Mustache  Deschamps  (Paris, 
1884),  Vol.  IV,  p.  110. 

89  Le  Marquis  de  Queux  de  Saint-Hilaire,   (Euvres  Computes  de 
Eustache  Deschamps  (Paris,  1882),  vol.  Ill,  p.  239. 


THE   MIDDLE  ENGIJSH   BALLADE  249 

Far  more  striking  than  any  of  these  resemblances,  how- 
ever, is  the  similarity  between  this  ballade  of  Chaucer's  and 
that  one  of  Machaut's  which  begins  with  a  reference  to  Ab- 
salon.    Even  the  refrains  suggest  each  other: 

"  Ne  quier  veoir  la  biaute  d^Absalon 
Ne  d'Ulixes  le  sens  et  la  faconde, 
Ne  esprouver  la  force  de  Sanson, 
Ne  regarder  que  Dalida  le  tonde, 

Ne  cure  n^ay  par  nul  tour 
Des  yeux  Argus,  ne  de  joie  gringnour. 
Car  pour  plaisance  et  sans  ayde  d'ame 
Je  voy  assez,  puis  que  je  voy  ma  dame. 

De  Tymage  que  fist  Pymalion 

Elle  n'avoit  pareille  ne  seconde; 

Mais  la  belle  qui  m'a  en  sa  prison 

Cent  mille  f  ois  est  plus  bele  et  plus  monde : 

C'est  uns  drois  fluns  de  dou§our 
Qui  puet  et  scet  garir  toute  dolour; 
Dont  cilz  a  tort  que  de  dire  me  blame: 
Je  voy  assez,  puis  que  je  voy  ma  dame. 

Si  ne  me  chaut  dou  sens  de  Salemon, 
Ne  que  Phebus  en  termine  ou  responde, 
Ne  que  Venus  s'en  mesle  ne  Mennon 
Que  Jupiter  fist  muer  en  aronde, 

Car  je  di,  quant  je  Paour, 
Aim  et  desir,  ser  et  crieng  et  honnour, 
Et  que  s' amour  seur  toute  rien  m^enflame, 
Je  voy  assez,  puis  que  je  voy  ma  dame."^° 

Moreover,  as  J.  L.  Lowes  has  brilliantly  demonstrated,®^ 

90  Chiehmaref,  Opus  Cit,  Vol.  II,  p.  560. 

91  J.  L.  Lowes,  The  Prologue  to  the  Legend  of  Good  Women  as 
Belated  to  the  French  Marguerite  Poems,  Publications  of  Modern 
Language  Association,  XIX,  pp.  655-6:  "That  \})allade'\  of  the 
Paradys  is  sung  by  the  poet  himself  of  his  lady,  whose  name  is  Mar- 


260  THE   BALLADE 

the  ballade  in  the  Prologue  to  the  Legend  of  Good  Women 
much  resembles  in  substance,  function,  and  treatment,  the 
ballade  that  begins  at  line  1627  of  Froissart's  Parody s 
D' Amours,  Mr.  Lowes  considers  the  ''happy  transfer  of 
the  ballade  in  A  from  the  poet  to  the  attendant  ladies,  by 
virtue  of  which  it  becomes  an  integral  part  of  the  action, '  '^^ 
evidence  for  the  priority  of  the  B  version. 

The  recent  possible  additions  to  the  Chaucer  canon  have 
included  only  two  ballades,  "either  or  both  of  which  may 
well  have  been  written  by  the  author  of  some  of  the  Canter- 
bury Tales.  "»3  and  94    Tj^e  ^^^^  ^f  these^^  has  the  regula- 

guerite,  and  files  a  bead-roll  of  the  other  flowers,  which,  despite  their 
merits,  the  marguerite  surpasses.  .  .  .  The  halade  in  the  B.  version 
of  the  Prologue  is  also  sung,  not  as  in  A.  by  the  attendant  ladies,  but 
as  in  the  Paradys  by  the  poet  himself,  though  the  direct  movement 
of  the  poem  is  thereby  sharply  interrupted  and  the  time  changed  from 
past  to  present/  It  is  likewise  distinctly  asserted  that  it  is  sung  of 
his  lady,  who  has  just  been  identified  with  the  daisy.  Since,  however, 
in  the  Prologue  the  praises  of  the  daisy  have  been  already  sung — in 
part  in  the  phraseology  of  this  very  halade — the  balade  of  B.  instead 
of  keeping  the  allegory  of  rival  flowers,  names  directly  rather  than 
symbolically  the  rival  bearers  of  his  lady's  qualities.'' 

82  J.  L.  Lowes,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  681.  "If  the  balade  in  B  was  sug- 
gested by  the  balade  of  the  Paradys,  the  setting  in  the  latter,  where 
it  is  sung  by  a  poet  in  his  own  person,  would  naturally  be  carried  over 
too.  Its  looseness  of  connection  would  then  be  quite  of  a  piece  with 
the  other  instances  in  B,  already  pointed  out,  of  rapid  and  sponta- 
neous adaptation  of  French  originals. ' '  Its  context  in  A  "  may  once 
more  be  readily  explained  by  the  absence  of  the  direct  suggestion  of 
the  original,  in  whose  place  was  now  uppermost  the  instinct  of  the 
maturer  artist. ' ' 

83  F.  J.  Furnivall,  Tyl  of  Brentford's  Testament,  etc.  (London, 
1871),  p.  34. 

9*  E.  P.  Hammond,  Omissions  from  the  Editions  of  Chaucer,  Med. 
Lang.  Notes,  Vol.  XIX,  pp.  35-38.  Both  are  found  in  a  Shirley 
Manuscript,  British  Museum  MS.  Additional  16165. 

»5E.  P.  Hammond,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  37:  ''Fol.  244''  is  headed  'Balade 
by  Chaucer'  in  the  hand  of  Shirley.     This  page  contains  the  second 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  251 

tion  seven-line  stanza,  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c,  the  last  two 
lines  of  each  stanza  serving  as  a  refrain : 

"  Ageyns  \>e  hill  Tpruk  in  Tpruk  out  I  calle 
ffor  of  my  ploughe  ]fe  best  stott  is  balle." 

This  poem  is  probably  an  example  of  the  hallade's  occa- 
sional use  for  purposes  of  double  entendre.^^  The  second  of 
these  ballades  has  three  seven-line  stanzas,  riming  a  b  a  b  b 
c  c,  with  a  constant  refrain  in  all  three  stanzas  and  no  envoy. 
The  poem  is  as  coarse  as  several  of  the  Canterbury  Tales, 
but  unlike  them  has  nothing  in  it  but  its  coarseness. 

There  are  thus  only  sixteen  ballades  that  may  be  attrib- 
uted to  Chaucer  with  any  degree  of  certainty.  These  we 
must  still  assume  to  be  the  earliest  English  examples  of  that 
verse  form,  although  the  temptation  is  strong  to  suspect  the 
genial  members  of  the  English  puy  of  having  composed  bal- 
lades antedating  Chaucer's.  As  has  been  stated,  he  knew 
the  poetic  practice  of  his  famous  French  contemporaries. 
This  familiarity  is  evidenced  not  only  by  his  own  use  of  the 
form,  but  more  often  by  his  imitation  of  French  ballades  in 
his  other  poems.^^     He  wrote  his  ballades  with  conscious 

and  third  stanzas  of  a  poem,  which  began  on  folio  244''  and  was  there 
marked  simply  'Balade  ';  below  this  on  244''  is  another  'Balade'  also 
thus  marked,  which  runs  over  on  to  leaf  245*.  The  running  title  of 
244"  might  therefore  be  interpreted  as  belonging  to  either  of  the 
short  poems,  parts  of  which  appear  on  that  page ;  but  as  it  is  Shirley 's 
usual  custom  to  make  his  running  title  fit  the  poem  which  begins  on 
the  page  below,  I  have  considered  that  the  ballad  meant  is  probably 
the  second."  The  ballade  copied  on  fol.  244"^  and  245'"  has  only  two 
stanzas,  but  there  is  space  enough  for  another  stanza  before  the  next 
number  follows  and  there  is  no  explicit. 

96  The  French  musical  ballade  on  fol.  258  of  British  Museum  MS. 
Lansdowne  380  is  an  illustration  of  the  same  perversion. 

97  See  also  note  at  end  of  this  chapter. 


262  THE  BALLADE 

artifice,  although  he  heeded  the  form  of  the  French  models 
with  infinitely  less  care  than  a  later  generation  of  English- 
men who  followed  the  prescriptions  of  the  Pleiade.  English, 
indeed,  does  not  lend  itself  to  the  word-tricks  and  rime- 
juggling  that  the  French  poets  and  poetasters  practiced 
in  the  ballade.  Chaucer  plainly  was  not  sufficiently  at- 
tracted to  the  form  to  do  more  than  trifle  with  it.  Bal- 
lades by  the  thousand  were  not  for  him.  His  bent  was  quite 
obviously  toward  narrative  rather  than  lyric  poetry,  and 
his  predilection  may  have  helped  to  cut  short  the  English 
career  of  the  ballade. ^^ 

III.    Lydgate 

The  ballade  in  the  hands  of  Chaucer's  successors  never 
rose  above  mediocrity.  The  most  telling  influence  of  the 
French  ballade,  indeed,  from  the  time  of  Chaucer,  was  on 
the  structure  of  the  English  stanza.  The  popularity  of  the 
seven-line  stanza,  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c,  and  of  the  eight- 
line  stanza,  riming  ababbcbc,  in  both  England  and 
Scotland  is  due  to  the  repeated  use  of  these  stanzaic  forms 
by  the  French  ballade  writers,  to  Chaucer's  interest  in  these 
stanzas,  to  his  metrical  experiments,  and  to  the  fidelity  of 
his  imitators.     Lydgate 's  ballades^^  outnumber  Chaucer's, 

98  In  recent  years,  some  notable  work  has  been  done  by  scholars  in 
investigating  the  literary  relations  between  Chaucer  and  contempo- 
rary writers  in  French.  Cf.  E.  Kocppel,  Gower's  Franz,  Balladen  u. 
Cha/ucer,  Eng.  Studien  XX ;  G.  L.  Kittredge,  Chaucer  and  Some  of  his 
Friends,  Modern  Philology,  I;  J.  L.  Lowes,  The  Prologue  to  the 
Legend  of  Good  Women  As  Belated  to  the  French  Marguerite  Poems 
and  the  Filostrato,  Publications  of  Modern  Language  Association, 
XIX;  J,  L.  Lowes,  The  Chaucerian  'Merdles  Beaute'  and  Three 
Poems  of  Deschamps,  Modern  Language  Beview,  V. 

89  In  Lydgate  ascriptions,  I  follow  the  Lydgate  Canon  given  in  H. 
N.  MacCracken,  The  Minor  Poems  of  John  Lydgate,  Early  English 
Text  Socieiy,  Extra  Series,  107  (London,  1911),  p.  v. 


THE   MIDDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  253 

but  he  is  even  less  bound  than  Chaucer  by  the  French  for- 
mulas. Lydgate  used  the  ballade,  as  Chaucer  is  not  known 
to  have  done,  as  the  conclusion  or  envoy  of  longer  poems. 
Ballades  appear  thus  in  the  Fall  of  Princes,  and  are  found 
fulfilling  the  same  function  at  the  conclusion  of  the  Flour 
of  Courtesye,  at  the  end  of  the  Serpent  of  Division,  and 
again  after  the  Legend  of  St.  Margarete.  In  the  Temple  of 
Glas  the  ballade  is  a  part  of  the  story  as  in  the  Prologue  to 
the  Legend  of  Good  Women.  The  ballade  beginning,  "Who 
will  been  holle  and  kepe  him  fro  sekenesse,"  is  differently 
placed  in  different  MSS.  Lydgate 's  other  ballades  occur 
as  separate  lyrics. 

A  typical  ballade  in  the  French  form  is  that  found  at  the 
close  of  the  Flour  of  Courtesye,  a  poem  devoted  to  the  de- 
scription of  an  ideal  woman  of  the  same  general  character- 
istics as  the  Alcestis  of  Chaucer.  The  poem  as  a  whole  is 
reprinted  because  of  its  evident  conformity,  unusual  in 
English,  to  the  ballade  type.  It  has  three  seven-line  stanzas, 
riming  ababbcc,  a  refrain  repeated  with  some  modi- 
fications at  the  end  of  the  stanzas,  and  an  envoy  riming 
a  c  a  c,  beginning  with  the  familiar  "Princesse.'' 

Balade  simple 

" '  With  al  my  mighte  and  my  beste  entente, 
With  al  the  faith  that  mighty  God  of  kynde 
Me  yaf,  sith  he  me  soule  and  knowing  sente, 
I  chese,  and  to  this  bonde  ever  I  me  bynde, 
To  love  you  best,  whyl  I  have  lyf  and  mynde ' : — 
Thus  herde  I  foules  in  the  daweninge 
Upon  the  day  of  saint  Valentyne  singe. 

'  Yet  chese  I,  at  the  ginning,  in  this  entente, 
To  love  you,  though  I  no  mercy  f ynde ; 
And  if  you  list  I  dyed,  I  wolde  assente, 
As  ever  twinne  I  quik  out  of  this  lynde ! 


254  THE  BALLADE 

Suffyseth  me  to  seen  your  fetheres  ynde*: 
Thus  herde  I  f  oules  in  the  morweninge 
Upon  the  day  of  saint  Valentyne  singe. 

'  And  over  this  myn  hertes  luste  to-bente, 
In  honour  only  of  the  wodebynde, 
Hoolly  I  yeve,  never  to  repente 
In  joye  or  wo,  wher  so  that  I  wynde 
Tofore  Cupyde,  with  his  eyen  blynde^: — 
The  foules  alle,  when  Tytan  did  springe, 
With  devout  herte,  me  thoughte  I  herde  singe ! 

Lenvoy 

Princesse  of  beautee,  to  you  I  represente 
This  simple  dyte,  rude  as  in  makinge. 
Of  herte  and  wel  faithful  in  myn  entente, 
Lyk  as,  this  day  [the]  foules  herde  I  singe."^®^ 

The  reference  to  Saint  Valentine's  day  may  very  easily 
be  an  echo  of  the  significance  of  that  feast  in  the  Parlement 
of  Foules,  Or  Lydgate  may  simply  be  drawing  from  the 
large  fund  of  St.  Valentine  lore  then  current.  After  1449, 
Charles  d 'Orleans  had  retired  to  Blois,  where  he  celebrated 
annually  the  day  of  Saint  Valentine  in  connection  with  his 
cour  d'amour.  Almost  every  year  a  ballade,  changon,  or 
rondeau  was  composed  for  this  festival  by  this  poet  and 
patron  of  letters.  His  interest  in  the  day  has  been  attrib- 
uted to  the  fact  that  his  mother's  name  was  Valentine.^^^ 

The  envoy  that  closes  Lydgate 's  Seynt  Margarete  has, 
itself,  no  envoy,  but  is  composed  of  three  seven-line  stanzas 
riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c.  The  refrain,  like  that  in  the  Flour 
of  Courtesye  hdlade,  is,  as  may  be  seen,  practically  double 

100  w.  W.  Skeat,  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces  (Oxford,  1897),  Vol. 
VII,  p.  273. 

ioiAim6  Champollion-Figeac,  Louis  et  Charles  dues  d'OrUans 
(Paris,  1844),  p.  355. 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  265 

in  the  first  two  stanzas,  but  in  the  third  stanza  is  curiously 
inverted.  The  address  to  *  *  Noble  princesses  ' '  comes,  as  it 
frequently  does  in  Lydgate,  in  the  first  line  of  a  stanza  other 
than  the  envoy: 

"Noble  princesses  and  ladyes  of  estate, 

And  gentilwomen  louer  of  degre, 
Lefte  vp  your  hertes,  calle  to  your  aduocate 

Seynt  Margarete,  gemme  of  chastite; 

And  alle  wymmen  that  haue  neccessite, 
Praye  this  mayde  ageyn  syknesse  and  dissese, 
In  trayvalynge  for  to  do  yow  ese! 

And  f  olkes  alle  that  be  disconsolat, 

In  your  myschief  and  grete  aduersite, 

And  alle  that  stonde  of  helpe  desolate, 
With  devout  hert  and  with  humylite 
Of  ful  trust,  knelyng  on  your  kne, 

Pray  this  mayde  in  trouble  and  all  dissese 

You  to  releue  and  to  do  yow  ese! 

Now,  blissed  virgyne,  in  heuene  hy  exaltat, 
With  other  martirs  in  the  celestialle  se, 

Styntith  werre,  the  dreadfuUe  fel  debat 
That  vs  assaileth  of  oure  enemyes  thre, 
From  whos  assaute  impossible  is  to  fle ; 

But,  chaste  gemme,  thi  servauntes  sette  at  ese 

And  be  her  shelde  in  myschief  and  dissese !  "^^^ 

The  ballade  envoy  of  the  Serpent  of^Division  has  three 
eight-line  stanzas  riming  ababbcbc,  with  an  identical 
refrain  in  all  three.  Like  the  envoy  of  St.  Margarete  and 
the  envoys  in  the  Fall  of  Princes,  it  merely  tediously  re- 
peats the  theme  of  what  has  preceded: 

102  H.  N.  MacCracken,  The  Minor  Poems  of  John  Lydgate,  Early 
English  Text  Society  (London,  1911),  Extra  Series,  107,  p.  192. 


256  THE  BALLADE 

"  This  litill  prose  declarith  in  figure 
The  grete  damage  and  distruccion, 
That  whilome  fill,  bi  fatell  auenture, 

Vnto  Rome,  ]>e  mySti  riall  towne, 
Caused  only  bi  false  devision 
Amonge  hem  selfe,  ]>e  storie  tellith  )?is. 
Thorowe  covetise  and  veyne  Ambicion 
Of  Pompey  and  Cesar  lulius. 

Criste  hymselfe  recordith  in  scripture 
That  euery  londe  and  euery  region 
Whiche  is  divided  may  no  while  endure. 
But  turne  in  haste  to  desolaeion; 

For  whiche  3e  lords  and  prynces  of  renowne. 
So  wyse,  so  manly,  and  so  vertuous, 

Maketh  a  merowre  tof ome  in  youre  resoun 

Of  Pompey  and  Cesar  lulius. 

Harme  don  bi  dej?e  no  man  may  recure, 

A  3eins  whose  stroke  is  no  redempcion, 
Hit  is  full  hard  in  fortune  to  assure. 

Here  whele  so  ofte  turnth  vp  and  downe. 
And  for  teseheue  stryf  and  dissencion 
Within  yowreself  beth  not  contrarious, 
Remembring  ay  in  yowre  discrecion 

Of  Pompey  and  Cesar  lulius."^*^^ 

Here  again  it  is  much  more  probable  that  the  reference  to 
the  familiar  wheel  of  fortune^***  occurred  independently  to 
Lydgate  than  that  he  had  in  mind  Chaucerian  passages  of 
a  similar  character. 

To  Humphrey  of  Gloucester's  taste  we  owe  the  envoys 
that  occur  at  the  end  of  nearly  all  the  chapters  in  the  Fall 
of  Princes.    Among  these  tail-pieces  are  found  thirty-one 

103  H.  N.  MacCracken,  The  Serpent  of  Division  by  John  Lydgate 
(Oxford,  1910),  p.  66. 
10*  See  p.  258  below,  and  p.  236  above. 


THE   MIDDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  257 

ballades,  whose  purpose  is  to  enforce  the  lesson  of  the  har- 
rowing narratives  that  they  conclude.  Their  sledge-ham- 
mer morality  does  not  harmonize  with  the  peculiarity  viva- 
cious art-form  of  the  ballade,  so  that  the  result  in  every 
case  is  depressing.  There  are  ten  three-stanza  ballades 
and  twenty-one  with  three  stanzas  and  an  envoy.  In  the 
former  class,  we  find  five  with  an  address  to  "noble 
princes"  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  stanza  and  five 
without  that  characteristic.  The  stanza  in  all  these  is 
the  seven-line  stanza  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c.  Of  course, 
it  must  be  said  that,  in  view  of  the  subject  matter  of  this 
translation  from  Boccaccio,  an  appeal  to  royalty  in  the 
"envoys"  is  to  be  expected.  So,  in  the  ballade  here  quoted, 
we  see  the  appeal  made  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
stanza : 

"  0  f  olkes  al  that  this  tragedies  rede, 
Haueth  to  mekenes  amonge  youre  aduertence 
Of  proude  Nembroth  also  taketh  hede, 
How  that  he  fel  from  his  magnificence, 
Onely  for  he  by  sturdy  violence, 
List  of  malice  the  mighty  lorde  assayle. 
But  in  such  case  what  myght  his  pride  auayle. 

Noble  princes  which  this  world  do  possede, 
Ye  that  be  famous  of  wysdome  and  science. 
And  haue  so  many  subiectes  that  you  drede. 
In  gouemaunce  vnder  your  excellence : 
Let  your  power  with  mekenes  so  dispence, 
That  false  pride  oppresse  not  the  poreyle. 
Which  to  your  nobles  so  much  may  auayle. 

Pride  of  Nembroth  dyd  the  brydel  lede, 
Which  him  conuayed  with  great  insolence: 
Pride  apertayneth  nothynge  to  manhede, 
Saue  in  armes  to  she  we  this  presence: 
Wherefore  honour,  laude,  and  reuerence 
18 


258  THE  BALLADE  ] 

Be  to  mekenes,  that  hath  the  gouemaile  ; 

Of  al  vertues,  which  man  may  most  auayle."^'*'*  j 

The  next  hallade,  a  second  illustration  of  the  three-stanza  j 

type  in  the  Fall  of  Princes,  both  because  of  its  form,  and 
incidentally"  to  call  attention  to  a  statement  of  the  cus-  i 

tomary  medieval  conception  of  tragedy,  is  quoted :  | 

1 
"  0  what  estate  may  him  self  e  assure,  ! 

For  to  conserue  his  life  in  sikemes?  I 

What  worldly  ioy  may  here  long  endure? 

Or  where  shall  men  finde  now  stablenes, 

Sithe  kinges  &  princes  fro  their  high  nobles  j 

(Record  of  Cadmus)  been  sodely  brought  low  \ 

And  from  the  whele  of  fortune  ouerthrow? 

Who  may  susteyne  the  pyteous  aduenture 

Of  this  tragedy,  by  writyng  to  expresse? 

It  is  like  to  the  chaunteplure  \ 

All  worldly  blisse  is  meinte  with  bittemes  : 

Beginning  with  ioy,  endyng  in  wretehednes.  \ 

The  sodayn  chaug  thereof  may  no  man  know  { 

For  who  sytteth  highest  is  sonest  ouerthrow.  ! 

Was  in  this  world  yet  neuer  creature, 

(Reken  by  princes  for  all  their  hygh  noblesse)  \ 

But  fortune  coulde  enclyne  them  to  her  lure; 

And  them  enperishe  through  her  frowardnes.  | 

Wherefore  ye  lordes  w^  all  your  great  riches,  j 

Beware  afore  or  ye  daunce  in  the  rowe,  j 

Of  such  as  fortune  hath  fro  her  whele  throw." ^^®  j 

105  A  Treatise  Excellent  and  Compendious  Shewing  and  Declaring 
in  Maner  of  Tragedy e  the  Falles  of  Sondry  Most  Notable  Princes,  etc.,  \ 

hy  Ban  John  Lidgate  MonTce  of  Burye,  Bk.  1,  Lenuoye  of  Chap.  III. 
(This  copy  is  in  the  Columbia  Library.  A  note  in  pencil  on  the  fly 
leaf  reads,  ''See  Lowndes — this  appears  to  be  the  edition  printed  by 
John  Wayland  1558.^0  ■■ 

IOC  Book  I,  Lenuoye  of  Ch.  VII.     See  p.  256  above.  \ 


THE   MIDDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  259 

The  three-stanza  form  with  the  appeal  to  ** noble  princes" 
is  shown  in  Lydgate's  fling  at  ''surquedy"  and  the  bloody 
tragedies  growing  out  of  that  vice  common  to  all  ages  but 
censured  with  special  effectiveness  in  Middle  English : 

"  Whan  surquedy  oppressed  hath  pitie, 
And  mekenes  is  w*^  tyranny  bore  doun 
Agayne  all  ryght,  then  hasty  crueltie 
To  be  vengeable  maketh  no  delation, 
What  foloweth  thereof  by  good  aspection, 
Se  an  example  how  Pyrus  in  his  tene 
Of  hateful  yre  slough   yong  Pollicene. 

Kynge  Eolus  to  outragious  was  parde, 
And  to  vengeable  in  his  intencion: 
Agaynst  his  children,  Machaire,  &  Canace, 
So  importable  was  his  punicion. 
Of  haste  proceadyng  their  destruction. 
Worse  in  his  eyre  as  it  was  well  sene, 
Than  cruell  Pyrus  whiche  slewe  Policene. 

Noble  princes,  prudent  and  attempre, 

Deferre  vengeaunce  of  high  discrecion: 

Tyll  your  yre  sumwhat  aswaged  be, 

Do  neuer  of  doome  none  execusion. 

For  hate  and  rancour  perturben  the  reason 

Of  hasty  iudges,  more  of  entent  vnclene. 

Than  cruell  Pyrrus  whych  slewe  Policene."^®^ 

Lydgate,  in  the  ballades  in  the  Fall  of  Princes,  did  not 
adhere  to  the  common  practice  of  making  the  envoy  of 
fewer  lines  than  the  stanzas.  In  fact,  he  himself  does  not 
use  the  word  ** envoy"  at  all  to  describe  the  fourth  stanza 
with  its  direct  appeal.  All  the  envoy  stanzas  in  these 
ballades  are  of  exactly  the  same  number  of  lines  as  the 
other  stanzas,  as  witness  the  following : 

107  Book  I,  Lenuoye  of  Ch.  XXV. 


260  THE   BALLADE 

"Prynces,  pricesses  cosider  how  in  euery  age 
Folkes  ben  diuers  of  their  condicion : 
To  ply  &  turne  and  chaunge  in  their  courage, 
Yet  there  is  none  to  mine  opinion, 
So  dreadfull  chaunge  ne  transmutation, 
As  chaunge  of  prynces,  to  geue  iugement, 
Or  hasty  credence  without  auisement. 

It  is  well  founde  a  passyng  great  domage, 
Knowen  and  expert  in  euery  region. 
Though  a  tale  haue  a  fayre  vysage, 
It  may  enclude  full  great  deception, 
Hide  vnder  sugar  galle  and  fell  poyson. 
With  a  f reshe  face  of  double  entendement. 
Yet  geue  no  credence  without  suisement. 

Let  folkes  beware  of  their  langage, 

Kepe  their  tonges  from  oblocution: 

To  hynder  or  hurte  by  no  maner  outrage, 

Preserue  their  lyppes  fron  all  detraction, 

From  champarty  and  contradiction, 

Lest  that  fraude  were  found  in  their  entent, 

Ne  geue  no  credence  without  auisement. 

Prynces,  princesses  of  noble  and  high  parage, 
Whiche  haue  lordshyp  and  domination, 
Voyde  them  asyde  that  can  flatter  and  fage: 
Fro  tonges  that  haue  a  terrage  of  treason 
Stoppe  your  eares,  from  their  bitter  soun. 
Be  circumspect,  not  hastye  but  prudent. 
And  geue  no  credence  without  auisement."  ^^^ 

Five  of  the  ballades  in  the  Fall  of  Princes  are  written  in 
octaves.  The  sententious  commentary  on  the  sad  life  of 
Charles  of  Jerusalem  is  one  of  these.  The  rime-scheme  in 
the  three  stanzas  and  envoy  is  the  usual  ababbcbc: 

108  Bk.  I,  Lenuoy  of  Ch.  XIII.  The  last  three  stanzas  of  this  envoy 
are  found  by  themselves  in  British  Museum  MS.  Arundel  26,  fol.  SI'. 


I 

THE  MroDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  261  I 

\ 

Lyke  as  Phebus  in  some  freshe  mominge  ! 

After  Aurora  the  day  doth  clarifye,  j 

Falleth  oft  that  his  bryght  shining  ] 

Is  derked  with  some  cloudy  skye,  j 

A  lykenes  shewed  in  this  tragedye:  1 

Expert  in  Charles  the  story  doth  well  preue  ^ 
Youth  and  age  rekened  truely 

The  fayre  day  men  do  prayse  at  eue.  i 

The  noble  fame  of  his  fresh  gynning  j 

To  Saint  Lowes  he  was  nygh  of  alye,  \ 

Ryght  wyse,  manly,  &  vertuous  of  liuyng,  ] 

Called  of  knighthod  flour  of  chiualry.  \ 

Tyll  maintenaunce  of  anoutry 

Came  in  to  hys  courte  to  hurte  hys  name  and  greue 

His  life,  his  deth,  put  in  ieoparty 

The  fayre  day  men  do  prayse  at  eue.  j 

i 
Lyke  desertes  me  haue  theyr  guerdoning, 
Vertuous  lyfe  doth  princes  magnify, 

The  contrary  to  them  is  great  hyndring  \ 

Folke  experte  the  trouth  may  not  denye,  1 

Serche  out  the  rewarde  of  cursed  lechery 

Where  it  is  vsed  the  household  may  not  preue,  : 

In  this  matter  to  Charles  haue  an  eye 
The  fayre  day  to  prayse  towarde  eue.  ] 

Noble  princes  al  vyces  eschewing  ! 

Your  hyghe  corage  let  reason  gye,  j 

With  draw  your  hand  fro  riotous  watchyng,  ] 

Flye  fleshly  lustes  and  vicious  companye:  < 

Oppresse  no  man,  do  no  tiranny  i 


Socour  the  nedy,  pore  folke  do  releue,  • 

Let  men  report  the  prudent  policye. 

Of  your  last  age  whan  it  draweth  to  eue."^**® 

The  envoys  mentioned  in  the  Fall  of  Princes  conform, 
with  the  exception  noted,  to  the  French  laws  for  the  hal- 

109  Bk.  IX,  Lenuoye  of  Ch.  XXVin. 


262  THE  BALLADE 

lade;  but  Lydgate,  like  Chaucer,  modified  the  type.  Two 
of  Lydgate 's  religious  poems  are  written  in  a  loose  ballade 
form.  The  first  of  these,  *'  My  fader  above  beholdyng  thy 
mekenesse, ' '  is  the  most  poetic  piece  ascribed  to  the  Monk  of 
Bury.^^^  It  is  a  ballade  in  the  sense  that  it  has  three  seven- 
line  stanzas  with  a  refrain,  varying  in  the  last  stanza,  but 
the  rimes  in  all  three  stanzas  differ.  In  the  second  of  these 
religious  poems,  ' '  Heyl  hooly  Sitha,  Maide  of  gret  vertu, ' ' 
the  rimes  differ  in  all  three  of  the  eight-line  stanzas  and 
the  refrain  is  modified  in  three  different  ways.^^^  Both 
are  certainly  poor  specimens  of  the  ballade  kind,  but  writ- 
ten, I  believe,  with  reference,  however  remote,  to  the 
French  fashion.  The  comparison  of  the  Virgin,  in  the 
first  of  the  poems,  to  a  flower,  and  the  homage  paid  her 
in  this  character,  illustrate  a  custom,  frequent  with  medieval 
writers  of  religious  lyrics,  of  borrowing  the  apparatus  of 
the  secular  courtly  poem  and  converting  it  to  the  uses  of 
piety.  A  third  short  religious  poem,  called  a  Prayer  to 
Mary,  attributed  to  Lydgate,  is  in  the  restricted  form  of  the 
ballade,  with  three  eight-line  stanzas  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  b  c, 
the  same  rimes  occurring  in  all  stanzas,  with  an  identical 
refrain.^^2 

Another  three-stanza  poem  of  Lydgate  *s  is  prefixed  to  a 
Dietary  in  one  of  the  manuscripts.^^^  Although  these  three 
stanzas  are  found  in  a  great  variety  of  combinations  in  the 

110  British  Museum  MS.  Barley  2S51,  fol.  79.  Also  printed  in  H. 
N.  MacCracken,  The  Minor  Poems  of  John  Lydgate,  Early  English 
Text  Society  (London,  1911),  Extra  Series,  107,  p.  235. 

iiiH.  N.  MaeCracken,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  137. 

112  H.  N.  MacCracken,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  296. 

Lydgate 's  A  Prayer  Upon  the  Cross  (MacCracken,  Opus  Cit.,  p. 
252),  in  spite  of  its  five  stanzas,  may  well  be  classified  as  a  haUade. 
The  same  rimes  and  refrain  persist  in  all  the  stanzas  and  the  last  two 
constitute  a  kind  of  double  envoy. 

113  British  Museum  MS.  Lansdoivne  699. 


THE   MIDDLE   ENGLISH   BALLADE  203 

manuscripts,^^*  I  venture  to  think  that  they  were  originally 
conceived  as  a  ballade,  and  were  translated  very  possibly 
from  the  French  ballade^^^  one  stanza  of  which  is  given 
below  in  connection  with  an  English  version : 

"  Who  will  been  holle  /  &  kepe  hym  fro  sekenesse 
And  resiste/the  strok  of  pestilence 
lat  hy  be  glad  /  &  voide  al  hevynesse 
flflee  wikkyd  heires  /  eschew  the  presence 
Off  infect  placys  /  causyng  the  violence 
Diyk  a  good  wyne  /  and  holsom  meetis  take 
Smelle  swote  thyng/&  for  his  deffence 
Walk  in  cleene  heire/ eschew  mystis  blake. 

With  voide  stomak  /  outward  the  nat  dresse 
Risyng  erly  /  with  f yre  have  assistence 
Delite  in  gardeyns/for  ther  gret  swetnesse 
to  be  weele  clad /do  thy  dilygence 
Keep  welle  thi  silf/from  incontynence 
In  stawes  Battis  /  no  soiour  that  thou  make. 
Opnyng  of  humours  /  this  doth  gret  offence 
Walk  in  clene  heire  /  eschew  mystis  blake. 

Ete  nat  gret  flesshe/for  no  greedynesse 
And  fro  fruties/hold  thyn  abstynence 
Poletys  &  chekenys/for  ther  tendirnesse 
Ete  he  with  sauce  /  &\  spare  not  for  dispence 
Various  /  vynegre  /  &  thynfluence 
Of  holsom  spices /dare  undirtake 
the  morwe  sleep  /  callid  gyldene  in  sentence 
Gretly  helpith  /  ayeen  the  mystis  blake."^^^ 

11*  E.  P.  Hammond,  Two  British  Museum  MSS.,  Anglia,  XXVIII, 
p.  7;  p.  143.  See  also  Sir  Egerton  Brjdge,  Censura  Literaria  (Lon- 
don, 1815),  pp.  137-138;  and  F.  N.  Robinson,  On  Two  MMS.  of 
Lydgate's  Guy  of  Warwick,  Harvard  Studies,  V  (Boston,  1896). 

115  Trinity  College,  Cambridge  MS.  B.  3.  20. 

lie  British  Museum  MS.  Lansdoivne  699,  fol.  85^^. 


264  THE  BALLADE 

"  Vesty  vn  hounourable  balade  franeoys  du  regymente  du  corps. 

Qui   veult   son   corps   en   sante   maintenir 

Et  resister  contre  lespidemie 

Doit  joye  anoie  et  tristesse  fouir 

Laisser  lieu  ou  est  la  maladie 

Et  frequanter  joyeuse  compayngnye 

Boir  bone  vin  nette  viande  vsser 

Port  bone  odour  contre  la  punnesie 

Et  ne  va  hors  si  ne  fait  bel  &  cler"^^^ 

The  well-known  hallade^'^^  in  the  same  poet's  Temple  of 
Glas  presents  no  unusual  features.  It  is  made  up  of  the 
three  seven-line  stanzas  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c,  and  has  a  re- 
frain that  is  substantially  the  same  in  all  three  places 
where  it  occurs.  It  is  sung  by  the  choirs  of  Venus  to  cele- 
brate the  understanding  between  the  two  lovers,  and  its 
pleasant  noise  arouses  the  poet  from  his  vision. 

Lydgate's  ballades  add  nothing  to  his  reputation  as  a 
poet.  In  only  one  of  them,  as  we  have  seen,  does  he  follow 
the  form  with  comparative  fidelity,  namely,  in  the  envoy  of 
the  Flour  of  Curtesye,  and  in  only  one  of  them,  the  ballade 
to  the  Virgin,  have  we  verse  of  any  beauty.  The  ballades 
that  serve  as  envoys  are  merely  dull  and  repetitious ;  while 
that  in  the  Temple  of  Glas  is  smooth  but  conventional.  A 
study  of  Lydgate's  ballades  merely  emphasizes  the  conclu- 
sion before  stated  that  the  ballade  never  ceased  to  be  an 
exotic  in  middle  English  literature,  and  that  it  owes  its 
chief  importance  to  its  effect  on  the  English  stanza. 

IV.     QUIXLEY 

Probably  the  earliest  ballade  sequence  in  Middle  English 
is  the  northern  translation  of  Gower's  Un  Traitie  selonc  les 

117  Trinity  College,  Cambridge  MS.  B.  S.  SO,  fol.  52. 
■i^i»  Lydgate's  Temple  of  Glas,  ed.  by  J.  Schick,  Early  English  Text 
Society   (London,  1891),  Extra  Series,  40,  p.  55. 


THE   MIDDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  266 

auctours  pour  essampler  Us  amantz  marietz}'^^  Gower's 
eighteen  ballades  are  in  this  version^^o  expanded  by  means 
of  an  introductory  stanza  of  the  translator,  who  says,  among 
other  things, 

"  Grower  it  made  in  f  renshe  with  gret  studie 
In  halades  ryal  whos  sentence  here 
Translated  hath  Quixley  in  his  manere;" 

and  they  are  also  expanded  by  two  stanzas  at  the  end  pre- 
fixed to  Gower's  little  envoy  addressed  to  the,  ''universite 
de  tout  le  monde. ' '  Quixley 's  collection  thus  contains  nine- 
teen of  the  halades  ryale.  This  use  of  this  latter  term 
antedates,  of  course,  its  use  in  connection  with  the  Kingis 
Quair.  It  may  be  well  to  repeat  at  this  point  that  the 
combination  in  English  of  royal  with  ballade  is  likely  to 
have  been  due  to  the  influence  of  the  English  puy  en- 
forced by  contemporaneous  French  usage  in  the  phrase 
chant  royal.  Professor  MacCracken  conjectures  that  the 
translation  was  made  by  a  certain  John  Quixley  of  Quixley 
(modern  Whixley)  as  a  present  to  his  daughter  Alice,  prep- 
arations for  whose  wedding  were  in  progress  in  1402.  His 
hypothesis  is  based  on  external  evidence  afforded  by  the 
manuscript  and  by  contemporary  records,  and  on  the  in- 
ternal evidence  of  certain  northern  forms.  He  accounts  for 
the  presence  of  the  Gower  Traitie  in  York  by  the  supposi- 
tion that  the  neighboring  family  of  Gowers  situated  at 
Stitenham  procured  from  London  the  latest  work  of  John 
Gower,  who  is  not  known  to  have  been  related  to  them. 

Gower's  ballades  in  the  Tradtie  are  made  up,  as  we  re- 
member, of  three  seven-line  stanzas,  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c, 

119  See  Chapter  I. 

120  Found  in  British  Museum  MS.  Stowe  451  and  printed  by  H.  N. 
MacCracken,  Quixley  *s  Ballades  Boyal,  YorTcshire  Archaeological 
Journal,  XX,  pp.  33-50,  1908. 


266  THE   BALLADE 

with  refrains  and  no  envoy  save  the  general  one  at  the  end. 
His  translator  follows  the  form  of  the  original  exactly;  in 
the  matter  of  line  structure,  however,  ten-syllable  lines  are 
occasionally  represented  by  lines  of  nine  syllables.^^^  Mac- 
Cracken  calls  attention  to  the  fact  that ' '  Quixley  was  totally 
ignorant  of  the  syllabic  value  of  the  final  -e,  as  it  appears, 
for  example,  in  Gower's  English  poetry."  The  French 
rimes  are  closely  followed.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  only  in  the 
eighteenth  ballade  is  there  an  absolute  departure  from  the 
rimes  of  the  original.  The  translation  is  very  close;  in 
many  instances  the  sense  is  transferred  line  by  line. 

The  Middle  English  version  is  considerably  rougher  in 
line  structure  than  the  French,  as  a  result,  probably,  of  the 
translator's  occasional  following  of  the  laws  of  French 
metrics.  The  translation,  like  the  original  ballades  on 
adultery,  is  an  uninspired  performance.  This  Middle  Eng- 
lish rendering  of  the  ballades  on  so  promising  a  theme  as, 
That  all  her  lyfe  stant,  without  departing,"^22 

"  Trewe  loue  is  betwix  twoo  )?e  holy  bonde 
is,  to  tell  the  truth,  a  tedious  affair. 

V.    Anonymous  Ballades 

The  authorship  of  the  Middle  English  ballades  that  re- 
main to  be  considered  has  in  no  case  been  surely  determined. 
This  last  group  includes  the  translated  ballades  printed  by 
G.  Watson  Taylor  in  1827,  four  in  Volume  VII  of  Skeat's 
Oxford  edition  of  Chaucer,  those  in  the  He  of  Ladies  and 
the  Court  of  Sapience,  some  recently  printed,^^^  and  certain 
others  still  in  manuscript.    The  ascription  of  almost  all  of 

121  H.  N.  MacCracken,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  35-36.  MacCracken  gives  a 
complete  analysis  of  the  metrical  structure  of  the  poems. 

122  H.  N.  MacCracken,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  49. 

123  From  Bodleian  MS.  Fairfax  16. 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  267 

these  ballades  to  some  fifteenth  century  poet  or  other  has 
from  time  to  time  been  attempted,  but  these  attributions, 
while  occasionally  ingenious,  are  nevertheless  conjectural. 
The  most  imposing  collection  of  Middle  English  ballades 
is  the  series  of  translations  of  the  poems  of  Charles 
d 'Orleans  and  of  certain  other  French  poets^^*  that  were 
printed  for  the  Roxburghe  Club  in  1827  under  the  editor- 
ship of  Watson  Taylor,  as  the  English  Poems  of  Charles 
d' Orleans.  The  editor  declared  that  these  English  ver- 
sions of  Charles  d 'Orleans  were  by  the  great  Frenchman 
himself,  and,  further,  showed  himself  to  be  ignorant  of  the 
fact  that  a  number  of  the  translations  were  of  poems  not  by 
Charles  d 'Orleans  at  all.  In  the  same  year,  an  anonymous 
critic,  reviewing  the  Roxburghe  Club  publication  in  the 
Retrospective  Review, '^^^  amicably  remarked:  "We  have 
done  what  we  do  not  believe  that  gentleman  [Watson  Tay- 
lor] or  the  person  he  employed  ever  took  the  trouble  to  do 
— carefully  examined  a  MS.  of  selections  from  Orleans's 
work  in  the  British  Museum  [MS.  Reg.  16.  F.  ij],  among 
which  are  three  original  'Roundels'  in  English;  but  they 
are  so  decidedly  inferior  to  the  translations  in  the  manu- 
script printed  by  Mr.  Watson  Taylor  that  it  is  scarcely 
possible  the  duke  could  have  been  the  translator  of  his  own 
writings."  Critical  opinion  on  the  subject  of  the  author- 
ship of  these  ballades  had  not  advanced  beyond  the  critic 
of  the  Retrospective  Review  until  quite  recently,  when 
MacCracken  assigned  these  translations  to  William  de  la 
Pole,  first  Duke  of  Suffolk  (1396-1450).  MacCracken  has 
put  his  conclusions^^®  in  regard  to  the  authorship  of  these 
translations  and  of  a  group  of  poems  in  an  Oxford  manu- 

124  In  British  Museum  MS.  Barley  682. 

125  Second  Series,  Vol.  I,  p.  148. 

126  An  English  Friend  of  Charles  of  Orleans,  Publications  of  Modern 
Language  Association,  XXVI,  pp.  142-180. 


268  THE  BALLADE 

script"^  at  the  disposal  of  scholars  to  be  tested  and  eon- 
firmed.  And  Pierre  Champion,  the  eminent  French  author- 
ity on  the  manuscripts  of  Charles  d 'Orleans,  is  known  to 
be  studying  the  evidences  offered  by  French  manuscripts 
that  contain  English  poems  ascribed  to  the  Duke. 

In  Watson  Taylor's  volume  there  are  seventy-nine  bal- 
lades translated  from  the  French  of  Charles  d 'Orleans.  As 
translations,  they  are  less  literal  than  the  Quixley  ballades; 
as  poetry  they  are  incomparably  superior.  It  is  only  fair, 
however,  to  remember  the  dull  muse  of  Gower's  Traitie  and 
the  lyric  inspiration  of  the  original  from  which  the  Harley 
translator  worked.  A  critical  edition  of  these  poems  must 
shortly  be  forthcoming.^^^ 

The  line  of  eight  syllables  common  to  the  ballades  in 
French  is  represented  in  English  by  the  ten-beat  line,  but 
in  stanza  form  and  in  rime-scheme,  the  translated  ballades 
follow  the  French  closely,  varying  from  seven-line  to  eleven- 
line  stanzas  with  refrains.  Characteristic  stanza  forms  used 
in  the  Middle  English  versions  rime  thus : 

Bl.                     Stanza,                          Envoy  Taylor  C.  F. 

IV.  ababbcc  bcbc  (none  in  Fr.)  p.  12  p.  18 

XXIII.  ababbcbc  bbcbc  p.  37  p.  71 

XXVII.  ababbccb  bbccb  p.  41  p.  75 

XVIII.  ababbcded  cdcd  p.  30  p.  66 

V.  ababbbcbc  bcbc  (none  in  Fr.)  p.  13  p.  19 

XXI.  ababbccdcd  cdcd  (none  in  Fr.)  p.  34  p.  69 

XXII.  ababbccbcb  cbcb  p.  36  p.  70 

III.  ababbaacac  aacac  p.  11  p.  17 

XXIX.  ababbccdedeccdede  p.  45  p.  77 

127  Bodleian  MS.  Fairfax  16. 

128  As  I  have  had  only  limited  opportunity  of  comparing  MS.  Harley 
682  with  the  1827  print,  my  references  will  be  to  the  imperfect  text 
furnished  by  Watson  Taylor;  but  the  ballades  are  printed  direct  from 
the  MS.  The  references  to  the  French  versions  are  to  the  text  in  A. 
Champollion-Figeac,  Poesies  du  Due  Charles  d'OrUans  (Paris,  1842). 


THE  MroDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE 


269 


But  such  variations  of  rime-scheme  occur  as  in  Balade 
III,  where  the  English  envoy  rimes  a  a  c  a  c  and  the 
French  one,  ceded,  and  the  stanzas  of  the  French  form 
of  the  Balade  rime  ababbcccdcd.  In  Balade 
XXII  also  the  French  stanza  differs  from  the  English  in 
riming  ababbccdcd,  and  the  two  envoys  rime  thus, 
the  English  c  b  c  b,  the  French  c  d  c  d.  The  two  envoys 
in  the  case  of  Balade  XXVI  (p.  44  in  Taylor;  p.  74  in  C. 
F.)  differ  too,  the  English  riming  b  b  c  a  a  c,  the  French 
b  b  c  d  d  c.  The  second  stanza  of  Balade  XIII  (p.  24  in 
Taylor;  p.  61  in  C.  F.),  unlike  the  original,  rimes  a  b  a  b 
b  b  b  c,  and  the  first  stanza  rimes  a  b  a  b  b  c  b  c.  The 
rime  words  in  general,  however,  correspond  closely. ^^® 

129  Examples  passim: 


Balade  IV 


p.  IS  E. 

1.    6  alljaunce 

1.     7  pusshaunce 

1.  13  Gouvenaunce 

1.  20  vttraunce 


p.fSd 

1.    4  curtsey 

1.     5  company 

1.  13  cry 

1.  20  foly 

1.  28  party 


Balade  XIII 


p.S7 
1.  5 
1.  7 
1.     8 


Balade  XXIII 


plesaunce 

frauce 

parte 
1.  10    penauee 
1.  12    esperaunce 
1.  15    reken  aunce 


p.  18    F. 
aliance 
puissance 
gouvernance 
oultrance 


p.  61 
courtoisie 
eompagnie 
crye 
folie 
partie 


p.  71 
Plaisance 
France 
party 
penance 
Esperaunce 
recouvrance 


270 


THE  BALLADE 


It  will  be  seen  that  certain  words  like  France,  plaisance, 
aliance,  maistresse,  esperance,  in  the  original  appear  inevi- 


1.  18 

puysshaunce 

puissance 

1.  20 

allyaunce 

aliance 

1.  21 

grevaunce 

grevance 

1.  23 

vttraunce 

oultrance 

1.  26 

fyaunce 

Balade 

XXV 

france 

v.  40 

p.  73 

1.     6 

mastres 

maistresse 

1.  14 

promes 

promesse 

1.  22 

humbles 

* 

humblesse 

Balade  XXVII 

V.41 

p.  75 

L     1 

baner 

banniSre 

1.     3 

fronter 

■ 

frontiere 

1.     6 

prisonere 

prisonnidre 

I.     7 

straungere 

estrangiere 

1.     9 

chere 

chiSre 

1.  10 

company 

compaignie 

1.  11 

manere 

maniere 

1.  20 

party 

partie 

1.  23 

counselere 

conseillidre 

1.  25 

maystre 

maistrie 

1.  29 

bere 

biSre 

1.  28 

prayere 

pri^re 

Balade  XIX 

p.SS 

p.  67 

1.     3 

distres 

destresse 

1.  11 

maystres 

maistresse 

1.  17 

rewdenes 

Balade 

XVIII 

rudesse 

p.  SO 

p.  66 

1.     4 

plesaunce 

plaisance 

1.     5 

recoueraunce 

recouvrance 

1.     6 

conquere 

conquester 

THE  MIDDLE  ENGIJSH  BALLADE 


271 


tably  in  the  translation.    But,  it  is  also  true  that  Balades 
II,  XXIV,  XVI,  XVII,  XI,  VIII,  VI,  XXI,  III  and  XXII 

have  no  rimes  in  common  with  their  originals.^^^ 

Rimes  like  the  following  find  place  in  the  Harley  trans- 
lation: pressen  and  seson  (in  Balade  II,  p.  10  of  Taylor) ; 
mastres  and  promys  (in  Balade  XV,  p.  26  of  Taylor) ;  dye 


1.  11  fraunce 

1.  14  esperaunce 

1.  20  penaunce 

1.  22  affyaunce 


1.     1  maystres 

1.     2  ay 

1.     8  esperaunce 

1.  10  displesaunce 

1.  12  assay 

1.  13  larges 

1.  14  say 

1.  18  penaunce 

1.  21  princesse 


Balade  XII 


France 
esp6rance 
penance 
fiance 


p.  60 
maistresse 
ay 

Esperance 
desplaisance 
essay 
largesse 
SQay 
penance 
princesse 


Balade  XXIX 


p.  45 
1.  2 
1.  5 
1.  8 
1.  9 
1.  13 
1.  19 
1.  20 
1.  30 
1.  31 
1.  36 
1.  37 


reconfort 

port 

fraunce 

maystres 

report 

plesaunce 

fortres 

aqueyntaunce 

pryncesse 

allyaunce 

rewdenes 


p.  77 
Eeconfort 
port 
France 
maistresse 
report 
plaisance 
fotresse 
acointance 
princesse 
aliance 
rudesse 


130  See  pp.  16,  72,  64,  65,  59,  22,  20,  21,  69,  17  and  70  in  Champol- 
lion-Figeac,  and  pp.  10,  38,  28,  29,  21,  27,  15,  16,  34,  11  and  36  in 
Taylor. 


272  THE   BALLADE 

and  foly  (in  Balade  III,  p.  11  of  Taylor)  ;  hahound  and 
stounde,  se  and  mercy  (in  Balade  XXII.  p.  36  of  Taylor). 

In  envoys,  the  English  ballades  are  better  supplied  than 
the  French.  At  least  ten  of  the  English  versions  show 
envoys  not  in  the  text  of  the  corresponding  French  poems.^^^ 
It  may  be,  of  course,  that  the  translations  were  mad«  from 
a  French  text  different  from  the  one  we  now  possess.  My 
own  impression  of  these  envoys  is  that  they  harmonize  per- 
fectly, in  every  case,  with  the  ballade  to  which  they  are 
attached  and  that  they  are  on  the  same  poetic  level  with  the 
other  stanzas  of  the  poem. 

Three  of  the  ballades  bear  on  Chaucer.  The  first  of  these 
(Balade  XXXII,  p.  49  of  Taylor;  p.  80  of  C.  F.)  refers  in 
its  third  stanza  to  the  popular  idea  exploited  in  Newfangle- 
nesse  of  connecting  the  color  blue  with  constancy.  This 
reference,  it  will  be  seen,  is  inserted  by  the  translator : 

"  0  come  to  me  sum  gladsum  tidyng  newe 

My  faynty  hert  to  comfort  in  distres 
Say  me  how  farith  the  goodly  fayre  and  trewe 
Herdist  thou  hir  speke  of  me  oft  moch  or  lesse 
Me  callyng  loue  of  hir  gret  gentilesse 
Hath  she  forgete  0  nay  hi  God  aboue 
I  trust  as  that  she  made  me  of  promys 
When  she  me  gafe  this  name  as  loo  my  loue. 


Balade 

Taylor 

C.F. 

Balade  XVI 

p.  28 

p.  64 

Balade  IV 

p.  12 

p.  18 

Balade  I 

p.     9 

p.  15 

Balade  XX 

p.  33 

p.  68 

Balade  XI 

p.  21 

p.  59 

Balade  V 

p.  13 

p.  19 

Balade  XXVIII 

p.  42 

p.  76 

Balade  VI 

p.  15 

p.  20 

Balade  XII 

p.  22 

p.  60 

Balade  XXI 

p.  34 

p.  69 

THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  273 

Though  absence  hold  me  fro  my  service  dewe  ■ 

And  dowte  of  daunger  doth  me  heuynes  1 

So  moche  goodnes  knowe  y  hir  doth  pursewe  ] 

That  y  kan  neuyr  this  bithynke  dowtles 

But  she  will  holde  the  verry  trewe  prynces  i 

The  promys  which  was  made  to  my  bihoue  j 

Knyttyng  so  oure  hondis  to  witnes  I 

When  she  me  gafe  this  name  as  loo  my  loue. 

Me  thynkith  gret  pite  were  hit  by  ihu 

If  that  a  lady  of  so  gret  nobles  i 

Shulde  do  hir  silf  refuse  the  coloure  blew  I 

Which  he  we  in  loue  is  called  stedfastnes  i 

She  may  perceyue  bi  good  avisynes  J 

Whi  y  so  rudely  out  my  wordis  shoue  j 

And  als  what  loue  vs  causid  swere  y  gesse  I 

When  she  me  gafe  this  name  as  lo  my  loue.  ^ 

Go  belle  for  trouthe  ensewre  ]?ou  my  maystres 

That  y  am  hiris  in  all  maner  prove  j 

As  she  comaundid  me  to  my  gladnes  i 

When  she  me  gafe  this  name  as  lo  my  loue/'^^^  j 

The  second  of  these  ballades  (Balade  VIII,  p.  17  in 
Taylor;  p.  22  in  C.  F.)  refers  directly  to  Chaucer,  and  this 
direct  reference,  too,  is  inserted  by  the  translator: 

"  When  y  am  leyd  to  slepe  as  for  a  stound 
To  haue  my  rest  y  kan  in  no  manere 

182  British  Museum  MS.  Barley  682  f.  22.  The  third  stanza  in 
French  is  (p.  81  of  C.  F.) : 

"Pitie  seroit  se  dame  telle 
Qui  doit  tout  houneur  desirer, 
Failloit  de  tenir  la  querelle 
De  bieu  et  loyaument  amer, 
Son  pens  lui  scet  bien  remonstrer 
Toutes  les  choses  que  je  dy, 
Et  ce  qu 'Amour  nous  fist  jurer 
Quant  me  donna  le  nom  d  'amy. ' ' 
19 


274  THE   BALLADE 

ffor  all  the  nyght  myn  hert  aredith  round 
As  in  the  romaunce  of  plesaunt  pancer 
Me  praiyng  so  as  him  to  hark  and  here 
And  y  ne  dar  his  love  disobay 
In  dowtyng  so  to  do  him  displesere 
This  is  my  slepe  y  falle  into  decay. 

In  this  book  which  he  redde  is  write  &  bound 
As  alle  dedis  of  my  lady  dere 
Which  doth  myn  hert  in  laughter  oft  abound 
When  he  hit  rett  or  tellith  the  matere 
Which  gretly  is  to  prayse  without  were 
For  y  mysilf  delite  it  here  mafay 
Which  if  thei  hered  so  wolde  esche  straungers 
This  is  my  slepe  y  falle  into  decay. 

As  with  myn  eyen  a  respit  to  be  found 
As  for  an  howre  y  axe  not  for  a  yere 
ffor  which  dispite  wehnygh  he  doth  confoude 
That  they  ne  kan  fulfille  my  desere 
For  which  to  rage  and  sighe  as  in  a  gere 
He  farith  so  that  even  as  well  y  may 
As  make  him  stynt  likke  out  a  cole  of  fyre 
This  is  my  slepe  y  falle  as  in  decay. 

Thus  may  y  loo  more  sonner  wyn  my  here 
Then  make  my  froward  hert  to  me  obay 
ffor  wt  myn  hurt  he  doth  him  silf  achere 
This  is  my  slepe  y  falle  into  decay."^^^ 

183  British  Museum  MS.  Harley  682,  f.  8.     This  hallade  was  tran- 
scribed from  MS.  after  the  rest  of  the  chapter  was  completed.     The 
last  word  of  line  four  is  found  to  be  pancer  and  not  chancer.    Watson 
Taylor  or  his  scribe  was  in  error.     Stanza  1  of  the  French  is: 
'*  Quant  je  suy  couchi6  en  mon  lit, 

Je  ne  puis  en  pais  reposer: 

Car,  toute  la  nuit  mon  cueur  lit 

On  roumant  de  Plaisant-penser 

Et  me  prie  de  I'escouter. 

Si  ne  I'ose  d^sobeir, 

Pour  doubte  de  le  courroucer: 

Ainsi  je  laisse  le  dormir. ' ' 


THE   MIDDLE   ENGLISH   BALLADE 


276 


In  a  third  ballade  there  is  a  stanza  written  in  the  ''ubi 
sunt"  vein.  In  this  stanza  of  Balade  LXII  (p.  97  in 
Taylor;  Barley  682,  f.  42;  p.  120  in  C.  F.),  there  occurs  a 
list  of  ladies,  splendid  in  their  day,  whom  death  laid  low : 

"  In  tyme  a  past  ther  ran  gret       "  On  vieil  temps,  quant  renom 


renomaunce 
Of  dido  cresseid  Alcest  and 

Eleyne 
And  many  moo  as  fynde  we 

in  romaunee 
That  were  of  bewte  huge  and 

welbesayne 
But    in    the    ende    alias    to 

thynke  agayne 
How  deth  hem  slew  and  sleth 

moo  day  bi  day 
Hit  doth  me  wel  aduert  this 

may  y  say 
That  this  world  nys  but  even 

a  thyng  in  vayne." 


couroit 
De    Criseis,     de    Yseud    et 

Elaine 
Et  maintes  autres  qu'on  nom- 

moit 
Parfaites    en    beaulte    haul- 

taine 
Mais  au  derrain,  en  son  dom- 

aine 
La   Mort    les   prist    piteuse- 

ment 
Par   quoy   puis  veoir   clere- 

ment: 
Ce    monde    n'est    que    chose 

vaine." 


It  is  worth  noting  that  the  translator,  remembering,  per- 
haps, the  Prologue  to  the  Legend  of  Good  Women,  has  sub- 
stituted Alcest  for  Yseud,  and  has  added  Dido,  the  heroine 
of  one  of  the  Legends.  True,  Isoude  appears  in  the  ballade 
of  the  Prologue,  but  certainly  Alcest  is  more  especially 
Chaucerian  in  association  than  the  Irish  princess. 

There  are  some  forty  other  ballades  in  Watson  Taylor's 
volume,  translations,  too,  presumably,  but  not  of  poems  by 
Orleans.^^^  One  of  these  is  a  translation  of  a  poem  by 
Christine  de  Pisan  and  illustrates  in  English  a  device, 
over  frequent  in  France,  of  repeating  the  same  word  at  the 

134  Cf.  Georg  Bullricli,  Tiber  Charles  d'Orleans  und  die  ihm  Zuge- 
schriehene  Englische  tJbersetzungen  seiner  Gedichte  (Berlin,  1893), 
pp.  18-20. 


276  THE  BALLADE 

beginning  of  every  line.^^'^     The  translation  is  here  given 
for  purposes  of  comparison.^^^ 

"Alone  am  y  and  wille  to  be  alone 
Alone  withouten  plesere  or  gladnes 
Alone  in  care  to  sighe  and  grone 
Alone  to  wayle  the  deth  of  my  maystres 
Alone  which  sorow  will  me  neuyr  cesse 
Alone  y  curse  the  lyf  y  do  endure 
Alone  this  fayntith  me  my  gret  distres 
Alone  y  lyue  an  ofcast  creature. 

Alone  am  y  most  wofuUest  bigoon 
Alone  forlost  in  paynful  wildimes 
Alone  withouten  whom  to  make  my  mone 
Alone  my  wrechid  case  forto  redresse 
Alone  thus  wandir  y  in  heuynes 
Alone  so  wo  worth  myn  aventure 
Alone  to  rage  this  thynkith  me  swetnes 
Alone  y  lyue  an  ofcast  creature. 

Alone    deth  com  take  me  here  anoon 
Alone  that  dost  me  dure  so  moche  distres 
Alone  y  lyue,  my  frendis  alle  ad  foon 
Alone  to  die  thus  in  my  lustynes 
Alone  most  welcome  deth  to  thi  rudenes 
Alone  that  worst  kan  pete  lo  mesure 
Alone  come  on,  y  bide  but  thee  dowtles 
Alone  y  lyue  an  ofcast  creature. 

Alone  of  woo  y  haue  take  such  excesse 
Alone  that  phisik  nys  ther  me  to  cure 
Alone  y  lyue  that  willith  it  were  lesse 
Alone  y  lyue  an  of  cast  creature." 
[^7.    S.    Harley    682,    f.    40] 

X36  On  p.  261  of  the  same  collection  is  another  ballade  that  employs 
the  same  device. 

136  K.  Bartsch,  Chrestomathie  de  I'Ancien  Frangais  (Leipzig,  1884), 
p.  439. 


THE   MIDDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  277 

In  Skeat's  collection  of  pseudo-Chaucerian  pieces,  there 
are  four  orthodox  ballades,  not  counting  the  Lydgate  Flour 
of  Courtesye  example.  They  are  a  triple  hallade^^''  and 
the  Envoy  to  Alison.^^^  The  latter  has  three  seven-line 
stanzas  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c,  and  a  six-line  envoy  riming 
a  b  a  b  c  c.  The  acrostic  in  the  envoy  was  first  pointed 
out  by  Lidell."®  The  refrain  is  the  same  in  all  three 
stanzas : 

"For  of  al  goode  she  is  the  best  livinge," 

And  this  refrain  is  substantially  the  same  in  the  envoy,  where 
**Now"  is  substituted,  for  obvious  reasons,  for  the  initial 
' '  For. ' '  Poetically  it  is  very  poor  stuff ."^  In  1801,  Words- 
worth modernized  this  ballade,  first  called  the  Envoy  to 
Alison  by  Skeat,  in  connection  with  his  rendering  of  the 
Cuckoo  and  the  Nightingale.    Part  of  it  is  as  follows : 

"  Unlearned  Book  and  rude,  as  well  I  know, 
For  beauty  thou  hast  none,  nor  eloquence, 
Who  did  on  thee  the  hardinesse  bestow 

137  W.  W.  Skeat,  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces  (Oxford,  1897),  Vol. 
VII,  p.  405.     Printed  by  Thynne  as  '*A  goodly  balade  of  Chaucer." 

138  w.  W.  Skeat,  Opus  Cit.,  Vol.  VI,  p.  358.  In  Bodleian  MS.  Fair- 
fax 16,  the  Envoy  to  Alison  follows  the  BooJc  of  the  Duchess  without 
a  break;  in  Bodleian  MS.  Tanner  346,  the  Alison  follows  the  Cuckoo 
and  the  Nightingale. 

139  <'A  urore  of  gladnesse,  and  day  of  lustinesse, 

L  ucerne  a-night,  with  hevenly  influence 
I  llumined,  rote  of  beautee  and  goodnesse, 
S  uspiries  which  I  effunde  in  silence, 
O  f  grace  I  beseche,  alegge  let  your  wrytinge, 
N  ow  of  al  goode  sith  ye  be  best  livinge. " 
Cf.  Academy,  1896,  II,  p.  116. 

140  w.  W.  Skeat,  Opus  Cit.,  Vol.  VII,  p.  Ixii:  "My  chief  object  in 
reprinting  it  is  to  shew  how  unworthy  it  is  of  Clanvowe,  not  to  men- 
tion Chaucer.  We  have  no  right  even  to  assign  it  to  Lydgate.  And 
its  date  may  be  later  than  1450." 


278  THE   BALLADE 

To  appear  before  my  Lady?  but  a  sense 
Thou  surely  hast  of  her  benevolence, 
Whereof  her  hourly  bearing  proof  doth  give; 
For  of  all  good  she  is  the  best  alive." 


L'Envoy 

"Pleasure's  Aurora,  Day  of  gladsomeness ! 
Luna  by  night,  with  heavenly  influence 
Illumined!  root  of  beauty  and  goodness, 
Write,  and  allay,  by  your  beneficence. 
My  sighs  breathed  forth  in  silence, — comfort  give ! 
Since  of  all  good,  you  are  the  best  alive."^*^ 

Wordsworth's  rendering  of  the  envoy  is  certainly  an  im- 
provement on  the  original,  but  the  poem,  whether  in  fif- 
teenth century  or  nineteenth  century  guise,  is  wordy  and 
lacks  the  grace  characteristic  of  the  ballade  at  its  best. 

Skeat  prints  as  ''manifestly  Lydgate's"  the  triple  bal- 
lade which  Professor  MacCracken  does  not  include  in  the 
latest  Lydgate  Canon.  This  ''goodly  balade"  resembles 
Chaucer's  Fortune  and  his  Compleynt  of  Venus  in  form. 
The  first  poem  of  the  trio  is  made  up  of  three  seven-line 
stanzas  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c,  with  a  refrain  at  the  end  of 
the  stanzas.  The  second  obviously  is  short  one  stanza,  as  it 
must  have  been  in  the  manuscript  from  which  Thynne 
printed.  The  two  seven-line  stanzas  rime  a  b  a  b  b  c  c. 
The  refrain  of  the  first  stanza  is,  "Than  closen  ye,  my 
lyves  lady  dere!";  of  the  secand  stanza,  "Disclose  and 
sprede  my  lyves  lady  dere!"  The  third  ballade  has  three 
seven-line  stanzas  riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c,  with  a  refrain. 
Each  of  the  three  has  its  own  system  of  rimes  and  at  the 
end  there  is  an  envoy  of  eight  lines,  riming  bdbddede, 
that  serves  as  general  envoy. 

"1  Complete  Poetical  Works  of  William  Wordsworth  (London, 
1899),  p.  165. 


THE   MIDDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  279 

This  triple  ballade  addresses  itself  to  a  Margaret,  and 
exhibits  characteristics  of  that  daisy  cult  practised  first  in 
France  and  later  in  England.  To  quote  Lounsbury:  ''It 
reads  like  a  translation  from  the  French."^*-  Skeat  be- 
lieves that  the  sixth  stanza  probably  began  with  the  letter 
D;  in  this  case  the  initial  letters  of  the  stanzas  would  be 
M,  M,  M;  D,  D,  D;  J,  C,  Q.  "And  as  it  was  evidently 
addressed  to  a  lady  named  Margaret,  we  seem  to  see  here, 
Margaret,  Dame  Jacques.  "^*^ 

The  poem  called  by  Speght  in  his  1598  edition  Chaucer's 
Dreame  and  in  his  1602  print  The  He  of  Ladies^^*  has  for 
its  envoy  four  stanzas,  the  first  of  which  is  unconnected 
with  what  follows.  The  last  three  are  seven-line  stanzas 
riming  a  b  a  b  b  c  c,  with  different  rimes  in  every  stanza 
and  with  a  refrain.  The  poet  of  the  He  of  Ladies  must 
have  been  familiar  with  the  French  and  the  Middle  English 
custom  of  using  the  ballade  as  an  envoy  to  a  longer  poem, 
but  he  is  following  the  custom  here  without  adhering  to  the 
strict  form  of  the  ballade.  In  subject  matter,  as  may  be 
seen,  this  envoy  departs  in  no  way  from  the  conventional 
presentation  of  the  period. 

"Ffayrest  of  fayer,  and  goodleste  on  lyve, 
all  my  secre  to  you  I  playne  and  shreve, 
requiringe  grace  and  of  all  my  complainte, 
to  be  heled  or  martered  as  a  saynt, 
Ffor  by  my  trothe  I  swere,  and  by  this  booke, 
Ye  may  bothe  hele  and  slaye  me  with  a  looke. 

142  T.  E.  Lounsbury,  Studies  in  Chaucer  (New  York,  1892),  Vol.  I, 
p.  479. 

143  W.  W.  Skeat,  Chaucerian  and  Other  Pieces  (Oxford,  1894),  Vol. 
VII,  p.  xxi. 

144  The  He  of  Ladies  is  found  in  two  MSS. :  in  British  Museum  MS. 
Additional  10303  and  in  MS.  Longleat  256,  the  latter  in  the  library 
of  the  Marquis  of  Bath.  In  the  reprint  of  the  envoy  ballade,  I  repro- 
duce the  text  given  in  J.  B.  Sherzer's  The  lie  of  Ladies  (Berlin, 
1903),  p.  116. 


280  THE   BALLADE 

j 

Go  forthe  myn  owne  trew  harte  innocent,  ] 

and  withe  humblesse  do  thine  obseruaunce,  ] 

2215    And  to  thi  lady  on  thi  knes  present  | 

thi  seruice  new,  and  thinke  how  great  pleasaunce  ; 

hit  is  to  lyve  vnder  the  obeysaunce  \ 

of  her  that  may  withe  her[e]  lookes  softe  1 

geve  the  the  blisse  that  thou  desyers  ofte.  i 

2220    Be  diligent,  awacke,  obye,  and  dread, 

and  not  to  wilde  of  thi  countenaunce, 

but  meke  and  glade,  and  thi  nature  fead,  ; 

to  do  eche  thinge  that  may  here  plesaunce,  ; 

when  you  shall  slepe,  haue  ay  in  remembraunce  j 

2225    the  image  of  her  whiche  may  withe  lookes  softe  ] 

geve  the  the  the  blysse  that  thou  desyers  ofte.  I 

And  yf  so  be  that  thou  her  name  fynde  ' 

writton  in  booke,  or  else  vppon  a  wall,  ; 

looke  that  thou  do,  as  servaunte  trew  and  kynde,  ] 

2230    thyne  obeysaunce,  as  she  were  there  withe  all.  j 

ffayninge  in  love  is  breading  of  a  fall  •   j 

from  the  grace  of  her,  whose  lookes  softe  j 

may  geve  the  the  blisse  that  thou  desyers  ofte.  ' 

Finis 

Ye  that  this  balad  red  shall, 

I  pray  you  kepe  you  from  the  fall."  j 

The  following  envoy  at  the  end  of  the  Court  of  Sapience,  j 

spoken  by  Dame  Clennesse  and  her  friends,  is  like  that  ' 

in  the  He  of  Ladies  in  being  a  loose  form  of  the  ballade  i 

which  performs  a  function  usually  fulfilled  by  the  stricter  j 

form.     Here  too  the  rimes  differ  in  every  stanza.  The          | 

lines  at  the  close  of  each  stanza  are  close  enough  in  sense  I 
and  in  diction  to  be  regarded  as  refrains. 

"  It  better  is  to  trowe  in  god  aboue  j 

Than  in  mankynde  or  in  many  other  thynge  j 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  281 

Who  troweth  in  hym  /  for  he  can  kepe  and  loue 
Theyr  lust  f ulf yll  /  &  ^aunt  them  theyr  askynge 
And  in  his  gospell  eke  a  worthy  kynge 
He  sayd  hymself e  in  me  /  who  lust  byleue 
Though  he  be  deed  ywys  yet  shall  he  leue. 

0  cursed  folke  with  your  ydolatrye 

Whiche  in  false  goddes  setten  your  delyte 

Blynde  dome  /  and  deef  is  all  your  mametrye 

Of  stocke  and  stone  /  men  may  suche  karue  &  thwyte 

Leue  them  for  false  with  sour  and  despyte 

In  our  one  god  cast  anker  and  byleue 

Though  ye  were  deed  /  he  can  make  you  leue. 

He  is  all  lyfe*  whan  your  goddes  be  dede 
They  haue  a  tyme/and  he  is  sempyteme 
They  are  but  erthe /and  brought  lowe  as  lede 
He  regneth  god  aboue  the  heuen  supeme 
Blyssed  be  he  /  for  he  no  grace  wyll  werne 
To  them  that  wyll  in  him  beset  theyr  byleue 
And  though  they  dye  ywys  yet  shall  they  lyue."^*^ 

A  three-stanza  poem  with  envoy  occurs  in  the  manuscript 
with  the  Pricke  of  Conscience.^^^  The  stanzas  have  a  re- 
frain, ''Mesure  is  best  of  alle  thynge,"  but  no  rimes  in 
common.  The  envoy  does  not  show  the  refrain.  The  poem 
as  it  stands  here,  however,  seems  to  have  been  written  with 
some  reference,  at  least,  to  the  hallade  form.  The  stanzas 
rime  a  b  a  b  b  c  b  c,  and  the  four-line  envoy  rimes  across, 

*  The  top  line  of  the  page  has  been  partly  cut  off. 

145  The  Courte  of  Sapyence  (printed  by  Winkyn  de  Worde  in  1510), 
p.  giii. 

i*«  Printed  in  W.  H.  Huhne,  The  Middle  English  Harrowing  of 
Hell  and  Gospel  of  Nicodemus,  Early  English  Text  Society  (London, 
1907),  Extra  Series  100,  pp.  xxx-xxxi.  The  editor  says  of  MS.  Addit. 
S2578:  *' There  is  no  valid  reason  why  we  should  not  accept  1405  as 
the  date  of  the  Tricke  of  Conscience  part  of  the  MS.  and  the  other 
portion  cannot  be  much  later. ' '    The  poem  in  question  closes  the  MS. 


282  THE  BALLADE 

This  poem,  with  the  addition  of  the  envoy,  resembles  the 
ballade  as  practised  by  the  writers  of  the  He  of  Ladies  and 
the  Court  of  Sapience,  and  all  three  show  the  gradations  by 
which  the  ballade  as  a  fixed  form  passed  out  of  the  artistic 
consciousness  of  the  Middle  English  poet. 

Side  by  side  in  the  same  manuscripts*^  we  have  the  bal- 
lade with  refrain  (and  in  two  cases  no  common  rimes  run- 
ning through  the  stanza),  and  the  three-stanza  poem  with 
no  token  of  the  ballade  about  it  except  its  three  stanzas  and 
the  presence  of  certain  ideas  usually  associated  with  the 
ballade.  This  group  of  poems^*^  has  recently  been  con- 
jecturally  identified  as  the  work  of  the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  and 
a  corollary  to  this  identification  has  been  the  attribution  of 
a  little  group  of  eleven  English  poems,  hitherto  unquestion- 
ably assigned  to  Charles  d 'Orleans,  also  to  the  Duke  of 
Suffolk.  This  second  identification  came  about  through  the 
presence  in  both  the  Bodleian  MS.  Fairfax  16  and  the 
Bibliotheque  Nationale  MS.  fr.  25485  of  a  ballade  heginmng, 
*'0  thou  Fortune,  whyche  hast  the  gouernaunce. "  This 
ballade  has  a  refrain  and  a  fourth  stanza  of  equal  length 
(seven  lines)  with  others,  that  serves  as  an  envoy.  The 
rimes  are  different  in  all  four  stanzas,  and  each  one  rimes 
a  b  a  b  b  c  c.  The  refrain  reads,  "Why  wyltow  not 
wythstand  myn  heuynesse  ? ' '  Two  other  ballades  occur  in 
the  same  portion  of  the  Oxford  manuscript.  The  first  of 
these  has  three  seven-line  stanzas,  each  with  a  separate 
system  of  rimes  (a  b  a  b  b  c  c),  and  a  refrain.^*^ 

The  second  of  these  ballades, ^'^^  called  in  the  MS.  "A  Com- 
pleynt,''  resembles  in  form  the  one  just  mentioned  in  hav- 

147  Bodleian  MS.  Fairfax  16,  ft.  318-329. 

148  H.  N,  MacCracken,  An  English  Friend  of  Charles  of  Orleans, 
Publications  of  Modern  Language  Association,  XXVI,  p.  142. 

149  H.  N.  MacCracken,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  155. 

150  H.  N.  MacCracken,  Opus  Cit,  p.  166. 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  283 

ing  three  stanzas,  a  refrain,  and  no  envoy,  but  conforms  to 
the  strict  hallade  form  in  maintaining  throughout  its  three 
eight-line  stanzas  a  common  rime-scheme  (ababbcbc). 
The  refrain,  ''Thus  to  endure  yt  is  a  wondir  thyng,"  is 
repeated  without  modifications.  The  most  significant  fea- 
ture of  this  halade  compleynt  is  the  reference  in  the  third 
stanza  to  the  color  blue  as  the  color  of  steadfastness,  an 
association  of  ideas  that  we  have  found  in  ballades  by 
Machaut,  by  Chaucer,  and  by  the  translator  of  the  Charles 
d 'Orleans  poems.  The  stanza  tells  how  after  having  con- 
sorted in  "a  goodly  playn"  with  ''othir  fair  peple,"  in  an 
effort  to  gain  relief  from  love,  the  lover  gives  up  the  quest 
and  returns  home : 

"  And  vpon  thys  I  twrnyd  hom  agayn, 
Vn-to  myn  hert  wyth  visage  pale  of  hewe. 
'  I  trow,'  qwod  he,  '  thy  labour  ys  in  vayn :' 
And  I  answerd  that  I  non  othir  knewe, — 
'  Lo,  yit/  *  quod  he,  *  my  colour  shal  be  blewe, 
That  folke  may  know  of  my  stedfast  lyuying.* 
But  for  to  thynke  how  my  sorous  renewe, 
Thus  to  endure  yt  is  a  wondir  thyng."^^^ 

In  the  same  series  of  poems  attributed  to  the  Duke  of 
Suffolk  are  seven  three-stanza  and  three  four-stanza  poems 
that  were  plainly  written  as  modified  hallades.^^^  The  three 
four-stanza  poems  have  no  rime-scheme  common  to  their 
stanzas  and  no  refrain,  and  their  fourth  stanza  is  in  the 
nature  of  an  envoy.  In  one  of  them  the  fourth  stanza 
quoted  below  gives  confirmation  to  our  theory  that  the  im- 
plied (or  as  in  this  case  expressed)  intention  of  the  poet 

151  H.  N.  MacCracken,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  166. 

152  Two  of  these  loose  ballades  are  cast  in  the  letter  form  used  by 
Gower  occasionallj  in  his  Cinkante  Balades  and  by  numerous  French 
writers.  They  are  printed  by  H.  N.  MacCracken,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  165; 
p.  167. 


284  THE  BALLADE 

guides   us   in   the   classification   of   the   Middle    English 

Ivric  •^^^'  154  and  155 

"  Go  forth,  balade,  and  I  shall  give  yow  wage; 
To  her  that  ys  my  lady  and  maistresse 
Be  not  a-f  erde,  but  sey  her  thy  message, 
Me  recomaundyng  to  her  hye  noblesse, 
Lettyng  her  wyt,  in  verey  sothfastnesse, 
I  wyl  be  truly  hers  in  euery  place 
Besechyng  her  accept  me  to  her  grace." 

MacCracken  also  printed  as  a  poem  "in  Suffolk's  man- 
ner, ' '  a  hallade^^^  presenting  a  new  system  of  rimes  in  every 
stanza  (a  b  a  b  b  c  c),  but  running  a  two-line  refrain 
through  all  three  stanzas : 

"  Then  tome  thy  whele,  and  be  my  frend  agayn, 
And  sende  me  loy  where  I  am  now  in  payn." 

It  is  thus  one  of  the  many  prayers  to  Fortune  entrusted  to 
the  ballade  form  and  contains  one  of  the  countless  refer- 
ences to  the  Lady's  indispensable  wheel.^*^^ 

As  a  prefix  to  the  Chaunce  of  the  Dyse,  there  occurs  a 
three-stanza  poem  which  the  rubrics  pronounce  a  halade. 
Here  again  the  intention  of  the  author  is  to  be  taken  into 
consideration,  for  the  poem  is  hallade-\ike  only  in  the  num- 
ber of  stanzas,  the  metrical  scheme  of  each  individual  stanza, 
and  in  being  used  where  the  regular  form  would  be  em- 
ployed.   Earlier  bibliographies^^®  gave  the  Chaunce  of  the 

153, 154  and  155  H.  N.  MacCracken,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  162. 

156  H.  N.  MacCracken,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  180. 

167  A  Fortune  poem  in  British  Museum  MS.  Harley  682,  printed  in 
Watson  Taylor's  edition  on  pp.  208  ff.,  contains  another  such  refer- 
ence.    Cf.  notes  above  on  Chaucer's  Fortune. 

158  Tanner,  Bihliotheca  (ed.  1748),  pp.  489-493.  The  Chaunce  of 
the  Dyse  is  found  in  Bodleian  MS.  Fairfax  16;  the  three  stanza  poem 
referred  to  is  on  fol.  148'. 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  285 

Dyse  to  Lydgate,  but  its  authorship  still  remains  uncertain. 
This  little  prologue  is  printed  as  another  telling  piece  of 
evidence  of  how  easily  the  Middle  English  poet  slipped  out 
of  the  fixed  form : 

Balade  vpon  the  chaunse  of  the  dyse. 

"  First  myn  vnkunnynge  and  my  rudenesse 
Vnto  yow  alle  that  lysten  knowe  her  chaunce 
By  caste  of  dyse  in  your  hertys  inpresse 
And  by  goods  wille  to  doon  folles  plesaunce 
All  be  I  haue  of  wytte  no  suffisaunce 
This  worldes  course  I  haue  herd  sey  f ul  ryve 
Ys  that  alle  folle  shal  not  at  ones  thryve. 

I  pray  to  god  that  euery  wight  may  caste 

Vpon  three  dyse  ryght  as  is  in  hys  herte 

Whether  he  be  rechlesse  or  stedfaste 

So  moote  he  laughen  outher  elles  smerte 

He  that  is  gilty  his  lyf e  to  converte 

They  that  in  trouthe  haue  suffred  many  a  throwe 

Moote  ther  chaunce  f  al  as  they  moote  be  knowe. 

Syth  fortune  of  alle  thynge  gouemaunce 

How  euer  ys  happe  excused  holdeth  me 

ffor  neyther  am  I  worthy  to  here  penaunce 

Ne  thanke  truly  in  no  maner  degre 

But  natheles  this  wol  I  say  for  me 

She  that  yow  beste  may  helpen  in  this  node 

Ryght  wel  to  caste  I  pre  fortune  yow  spede  " 

Explicit  Balade  vpon  the  chaunce  of  the  dyse.^^^ 

In  a  sixteenth  century  manuscript  occurs  a  ballade  of 
the  early  fifteenth  century.^^°    The  inclusion  of  a  hallade 

159  Bodleian  MS.  Fairfax  16,  fol.  148^ 

160  In  British  Museum  MS.  Arundel  26.  Printed  also  by  H.  N. 
MacCraeken  in  An  English  Friend  of  Charles  of  Orleans,  and  referred 
by  him  also  to  the  Duke  of  Suffolk. 


286                                                 THE   BALLADE  \ 

J 

in  a  sixteenth  century  manuscript  testifies  to  the  fact  that,  i 
although  ballades  had  ceased  to  be  written,  their  kind  was 

still  of  a  sufficient  interest  to  be  included  in  a  miscellaneous  \ 
volume^^^  belonging  to  that  antiquary  of  Henry  VIII 's 

time,  Sir  William  Dethek.    This  ballade,  with  three  eight-  : 

line  stanzas  riming  ababbcbc,  a  refrain,  and  an  i 

envoy  riming  b  c  b  c,  is  a  satisfactory  fifteenth  century  j 

specimen  of  the  form.    Its  honor  roll  of  great  ladies  recalls  ' 

inevitably  similar  poems  by  Deschamps,  by  Chaucer,  and  1 

by  their  followers.  j 

Balade  ^oulourd  and  Reuersid 

"  hounour  and  beaute  vertue  and  gentilnesse  j 

noblesse  and  bounte  of  grete  valure  ■ 

ffygure  playsant  wt  coulour  and  fresshenesse  i 

witnesse  prudent  wt  conyng  and  norture  ; 

humblesse  wt  contynance  demure  '' 

plente  of  this  haue  ye  lo  souuerayn  1 

expresse  soo  youe  formyd  hath  nature  ] 

pyte  savyng  ye  want  no  thyng  certayne  i 

Creature  noon  hath  more  goodlynesse  j 

goodenesse  grete  so  wred  yow  hath  vre  ] 

ffeture  and  shap  of  faire  lucresse  ' 

mekenesse  of  Tesbe  as  wide  of  all  rigure 

ffrendelynesse  of  mede  port  of  geynure  1 

pennolope  of  hestis  true  and  playne  ] 

Alcesse  of  Bounte  lo  thus  ar  ye  sure  | 

pile  savyng  ye  want  no  thyng  eertayn.  j 

I 

Endure  me  dothe  lo  payne  and  hevynesse  ; 

distresse  and  thought  wt  trouble  and  langour  j 

vnsure  stondyng  of  socour  or  relesse  i 

maistres  and  lady  trustyng  you  of  cure 

i«i  British  Museum  MS.  Arundel  S6.    Transcribed  by  me  before  the 

appearance  of  MacCracken 's  version.  i 


THE   MIDDLE  ENGIJSH   BALLADE  287 

witnesse  of  God  I  gre  myn  auenture 
parde  is  fall  me  what  joy  or  payne 
gladnesse  or  woo  thus  I  you  ensure 
pyte  savyng  ye  want  no  thyng  certeyn 

Prince  I  you  beseche  this  rude  meture 
ye  not  disdayne  behold  wt  them  tweyn 
witnesse  thowe  I  doo  in  this  scripture 
pite  savyng  ye  want  no  thyng  certeyne."^^^ 

In  two  fifteenth  century  manuscripts/^^  is  found  what 
seems  to  be  a  triple  ballade,  with,  in  the  case  of  the  Cam- 
bridge MS.,  two  stanzas  lost,  and  in  the  case  of  the  Oxford 
MS.,  only  one  gone.  The  seven  stanzas  in  the  Cambridge 
MS.  were  numbered  from  one  to  seven  by  Henry  Brad- 
shawe,  who  considered  them  one  poem.  The  first  three 
stanzas  and  the  last  four  and  envoy  from  the  Cambridge 
MS.  with  the  fifth  stanza  supplied  from  the  Oxford  MS., 
are  given  below.  The  stanza  omitted  in  both  MSS.  should 
end  with  the  refrain,  "Of  my  desire  that  I  may  se  ryghte 
noghte. ' ' 

In  what  seems  to  have  been  a  triple  ballade,  the  first  two 
stanzas  are  bound  together  by  a  refrain ;  the  next  three  are 
grouped  together  by  a  common  refrain,  and  so  are  the  last 
three.    The  other  structural  features  are  plain : 

"  for  lac  of  sight  grete  cause  I  haue  to  pleyn 
longe  absense  so  sore  me  werieyth 
The  thinge  to  se  I  may  nought  attayn 
Which  that  myn  hert  most  inwardely  obeyth 
And  thus  my  spirite  in  my  body  dyeth 
So  am  I  dulleth  by  constreynt  of  my  thoght 
ffortunes  whele  so  felly  wyth  me  pleyt 
Of  my  desires  that  I  may  se  ryghte  noghte 

162  British  Museum  MS.  Arundel  S6,  fol.  32^ 

163  Cambridge  University  Library  MS.  Ff.  1.  6,  fol.  ISa-lS",  and 
Bodleian  MS.  Tanner  346,  fol.  74^-75'. 


288    ,  THE  BALLADE 

I  se  castels  I  se  eke  high  towres 

Walles  of  stone  crestyd  and  bataylled 

Medes  welles  river  sote  flourys 

And  many  paleys  fressh  aparayled 

De  vises  new  vn  couthly  entayled 

Butte  whyle  I  haue  loked  long  and  soghte 

Disdeyn  so  thik  his  haburion  hath  mayled 

Of  my  desires  that  I  may  se  ryghte^^*  noghte^®^ 

I  see  huntynge  I  se  homes  blow 
Houndes  renne  the  dere  drawe  a  doun 
And  atte  her  triste  bowes  set  a  row 
Now  in  August  this  lusti  fressh  seson 
The  hert  I  chasyd  the  here  and  the  lion 
Butte  all  this  myrth  vnto  myn  entent 
May  do  non  ese  vnto  myn  opynyon 
ffor  cause  onely  my  lady  is  absent 

I  here  also  the  attricable  sownes 
of  instrumentis  in  her  armone 
lusty  trumpetes  and  lyght  clarionne 
harpes  lutes  make  melody 
flBeytes  shalle  that  so  loude  crye 
Almoste  atteynynge  to  the  firmament 
But  to  my  ese  all  this  no  remedye 
Be  cause  onely  my  lady  is  absent 

I  here  folkis  talke  of  stories 
Of  princes  noble  and  worthy  conquerowrs, 
Of  cheualrye  of  conquest  of  victories 
Songes  dites  y  made  of  paramowrs 
Som  of  somer  som  of  wintrie  showres 
Som  of  Cupide  how  his  bow  hath  bent 
Butte  to  my  sore  all  doth  no  socoures 
By  cause  my  lady  is  absente 

104  MS.  ryth. 
165  MS.  nowthe. 


THE   MroDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  289 

I  taste  sugar  I  taste  hony  sote 

I  drynke  wynes  of  Gascoyne  and  fraunee 

I  take  my  parts  of  many  holsom  rote 

Of  fine  spices  full  gret  habundaunce 

butte  in  all  this  I  fynde  no  pleasaunce 

like  as  I  wold  to  myn  herte  Jyghte 

ffor  cause  onely  hertely  suffisaunce 

My  souereyn  lady  so  fer  ys  owte  of  sighte 

I  se  some  lagh  for  gladnesse 

And  also  some  joy  and  myrthe  mak 

And  some  sighen  and  weppen  in  distresse 

Euen  and  morow  for  her  lady  sake 

And  all  the  nyght  in  compleynynge  wake 

Venus  on  hem  hath  made  so  f  elle  a  feyghte 

Amonges  which  I  am  caght  and  take 

My  lady  is  so  fer  oute  of  my  sight 

And  somme  I  se  wounded  to  the  hert 
Wt  loues  darte  and  dar  not  be  a  knowe 
And  othir  eke  felyn  ful  grete  smerte 
Cupike  eke  hem  hath  so  merked  wt  his  bow 
That  for  distresse  they  courve  wondir  low 
They  be  so  feble  for  to  stand  uprighte 
Amonge  whiche  I  may  goon  on  the  row 
My  soueryn  lady  is  so  fer  oute  of  my  sighte 

Princes  of  beaute  myrrour  of  godely  hede 
When  so  be  fall  this  dite  that  ye  se 
Disdeyneth  not  but  of  godeley  hede 
Haueth  ther  on  mercy  and  pite." 

A  ballade,  interesting  because  of  its  remotely  possible 
reference  to  Katherine  of  Valois,  wife  of  Henry  V,  is  found 
in  a  fifteenth  century  manuscript.  It  is  headed,  ''Balade 
f  et  de  la  Reygne  Katerine  Russell.  ^  *  On  the  last  fly-leaf  of 
the  manuscript  is  a  large  drawing  of  a  circular  horse-mill 
20 


290  THE   BALLADE 

and  below  it  in  very  large  letters  the  name  Russell.  It 
seems,  therefore,  quite  likely  that  in  one  of  the  two  places 
the  scribe  interchanged  ''R''  and  "B."  I  can  see  no 
reason  for  attaching  the  name  ''Russell"  to  Katherine  of 
Valois;  it  seems  more  likely  that  the  "Russell"  or  "Bus- 
sell"  is  the  name  either  of  the  owner  of  the  manuscript  or 
of  the  author  of  the  ballade.  Some  flourishes  show  faintly 
between  "Katerine"  and  "Russell"  which  may  stand  for 
"par."  Queen  Katherine  died  in  1437;  John  Russell, 
author  of  the  Book  of  Nurture,  usher  in  chamber  and  mar- 
shal in  hall  to  Humphrey,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  who  flour- 
ished about  1450,  may  conceivably  have  written  the  hal- 
lade.^^^'  ^^^  "^^  ^^^  The  only  other  queen  Katherine  to  whom 
the  ballade  might  refer  is  Katherine  of  Aragon,  but  she 
could  hardly  be  designated  as  of  French  descent.  Henry 
VIII 's  first  Katherine  was  an  auburn  haired  Spaniard, 
however,  to  whom  the  adjective  "russel,"  referring  to 
coloring,  might  be  appropriate.^^^  There  is  a  third  possi- 
bility ;  it  is  not  wholly  improbable  that  a  lady  is  here  ad- 
dressed who  was  a  temporary  queen  on  the  occasion  of 
some  festival. 

Balade  fet  de  la  Reygne  Katerine  Russell 

Slombrying  ryhgt  ehoncefull  ful  of  vnykyndenes 

That  now  ha]?e  reyne  &|  dominacyun 

Me  thought  y  saw  bunte  &  gentillesse 

Ordene  solempnely  a  eonuocacion 

Of  the  most  noble  of  al  ther  nacion 

Causys  rygt  notable  to  avyse  &  se 

Weche  lamantyng  sayde  in  ther  coneluoon 

Adew  the  curt  rygt  gentyl  large  &  fre 

1C6,  iC7  and  108  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 
169  Godefroy  does  not  g^ve  the  word  in  this  sense. 


THE  MIDDLE  ENGLISH  BALLADE  291 

Ryhgt  gentyl  we  may  wel  sey  and  expresse 
ffor  theyr  strangers  hadde  consolacyun 
ffurst  of  here  that  wasse  sovereyn  maystresse 
And  after  of  here  everyche  in  comune 
Wurchyp  gode  rule  trowthe  prudense  &  renoun 
Supportyt  thys  curt  weche  sey  now  asse  we 
Euer  sey  &  wiht  whi  owht  afeccyon 
Adew  the  cort  ryhgt  large  gentyl  &  f  re 

Large  in  exspense  hytt  wasse  dowhteles 
for  ther  wasse  neuer  yet  desolacyon 
Scheuyd  to  astat  neper  more  ne  lasse 
But  al  the  gentylnese  that  myhgt  be  don 
Al  so  largely  they  hedde  ther  gerdoun 
That  thedur  senyd  for  answere  or  decre 
Adew  the  curt  ryhgt  gentyl  large  gentyl  &  f  re 

ffre  to  turper  euery  man  with  fayrenes 
Euer  wasse  thys  curt  the  weche  by  owre  reson 
We  calle  Katheryne  the  exelent  pryncesse 
Queue  of  Engelond  by  generacyon 
Of  kyngys  of  fraunse  dyssendyt  down 
Whos  hey  nobeles  in  euery  cuntrey 
Adew  the  curt  right  gentyl  large  &  fre.^^** 

Two  other  manuscripts  have  been  noted  by  former  writers 
as  being  rich  in  ballades.  Gleeson  White  in  a  popular  in- 
troduction to  his  delightful  collection  of  Ballades  and  Ron- 
deaus, stated  that  ''John  Shirley,  who  lived  about  1440, 
made  a  collection  of  Ballades,  Roundels,  Virelais  and 
Tragedies  in  MSS.,  which  are  still  extant  in  the  Ashmolean 
Museum  at  Oxford.  "^^^  There  is  only  one  Ashmole  MS. 
written  by  Shirley,  and  in  it  occurs : 

170  Trinity  College,  Cambridge  MS.  B.  14.  51,  fol.  95.  Note  the 
French  trick  of  having  some  word  in  the  last  line  of  a  stanza  appear 
in  the  first  line  of  the  following  stanza. 

171  Gleeson  White,  Ballades  and  Bondeaiis  (London,  1887),  p.  xxiv. 


292  THE   BALLADE 

"Here  begynne  Ipe  []?e]  boke  cleped  J?e  Abstracte  Brevyayre 
compyled  of  divers  balades,  roundels,  virilayes,  tragedyes,  en- 
voyes,  compleynts,  moralities,  storyes,  practysed  and  eke  devysed 
and  ymagyned,  as  it  shewe  ]>e  here  folowyig."^^^ 

This  heading  was  plainly  responsible  for  Gleeson  White's 
belief  that  this  Ashmole  MS.  is  full  of  ballades.  There  are 
in  reality  no  ballades  at  all  in  it.^^^  Of  the  nineteen  items 
called  balades  or  spoken  of  as  being  written  in  ^balade 
wyse/  one  shows  a  six-line  stanza,  nine  a  seven-line  stanza, 
and  nine  an  eight-line  stanza. 

Another  exaggeration  of  the  wealth  of  ballade  material 
still  in  manuscript  is  found  in  the  Cambridge  History 
of  English  Literature,  where  Padelford,  who  has  just 
been  discussing  the  use  of  this  French  verse  form  in  Middle 
English,  remarks  in  a  footnote,  ^^MS.  Bawlinson  C  813 
contains  a  large  number  of  the  ballades.*'  But  Padel- 
ford's  own  work  on  this  manuscripts"^*  confirmed  the  results 
of  my  examination,  which  revealed  no  ballades.  A  later 
student  of  the  same  manuscript  says : 

"  Die  Form  der  Ballade  findet  sich  nirgends  streng  bef olgt ;  bei 
manchen  (44,  45,  48),  die  der  Gebrauch  des  Refrains  noch  deutlich 
hierherstellt,  ist  nur  ein  teil  der  Strophen  durch  die  Wiederan- 
nahme  des  Reims  verbunden."^'^'* 

The  life  of  the  ballade  in  Middle  English  is  probably  less 
than  one  hundred  years,  extending  as  it  does  from  the  last 
twenty  years  of  the  fourteenth  century,  when  Chaucer  was 

172  Fol.  13. 

178  E.  P.  Hammond,  Ashmole  59  and  Other  Shirley  Manuscripts, 
Anglia,  XXX,  p.  320. 

174  F.  M.  Padelford,  The  Songs  in  MS.  Bawlinson,  C  81S,  Anglia, 
XXXI,  p.  309. 

iTsWilhelm  Bolle,  Zu  Lyrik  der  Bawlinson  MS.  C  813,  Anglia, 
XXXrV,  p.  281. 


THE   MroDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  293 

making  first  trials,  to  not  later  than  the  seventies  of  the  fol- 
lowing century.  The  courtly  makers  of  the  reigns  of  the 
Early  Tudors  were  not  ballade  writers.  Wyatt  had  the 
rondeaxi}''^  to  his  credit  but  not  a  ballade.  The  following 
poem  of  his  by  virtue  of  its  three-stanza  form  and  its  refrain 
suggests  what  is  most  natural,  however,  that  he  was  familiar 
with  the  ballade  form : 

"  The  restfuU  place,  revyver  of  my  smarte; 
the  labor's  salve,  ineressyng  my  sorrow; 
the  body's  ese,  and  trobler  off  my  hart; 
quieter  of  mynd,  and  my  vnquyet  foe ; 
fforgetter  of  payn,  remembryng  my  woo; 
the  place  of  slepe,  wherein  I  do  but  wake; 
be  sprent  wit/t  teres,  my  bed,  I  the  forsake. 

The  frost,  the  snow,  may  not  redresse  my  bete, 
nor  yet  no  heate  abate  my  fervent  cold; 
I  know  nothyng  to  ese  my  paynes  mete. 
Eche  care  cawsythe  increse  by  XXty  fold, 
revyvyng  carys  vpon  my  sorrows  old. 
Suche  overthwart  affectes  they  do  me  make, 
by  sprent  vjith  terys,  my  bed  for  to  forsake. 

Yet  helpythe  yt  not:  I  fynd  no  better  ese 

in  bed,  or  owt.    Thys  moste  cawsythe  my  payn : 

where  most  I  seke  how  beste  that  I  may  plese, 

my  lost  labor,  alas!  ys  all  in  vayn; 

yet  that  I  gave,  I  cannot  call  a  gayn. 

No  place  fro  me  my  greffe  away  can  take ; 

Wher  for  wit/t  terys,  my  bed,  I  the  forsake.''^'"^ 

Probably  the  last  vestige  of  specific  ballade  influence  is 
seen  in  the  work  of  Gascoigne  who  professes, 

"  Yn  barreyne  verse,  to  doe  the  best  I  can 
Lyke  Chancers  boye,  and  Petrarks  journeyman," 

176  F.  M.  Padelford,  Early  Sixteenth  Century  Lyrics  (New  York, 
1907),  p.  xliv. 

177  F.  M.  Padelford,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  19. 


294  THE  BALLADE 

and  further  proclaims, 

"  But  is  some  Englische  woorde  herein  seme  sweet, 
Let  Chancers  name  exalted  be  therefore."^^^ 

As  a  preface  to  the  Grief  of  Joy  (1576)  Gascoigne  uses 
the  following  poem  that  certainly  is  reminiscent  of  the 
ballade  form.  Its  stanza  is  constructed  in  conformity  to 
the  formula  given  in  the  same  author's  Notes  of  Instruction: 

The  Preface. 

"  Mount  mynd  &  muze,  you  come  before  a  Queene 
before  a  Queene,  whose  Bewtye  skome^  compare/ 
for  yett  on  earth  hath  selde  (or  nott)  bene  seene, 
A  Queene  so  fraught  with  gyfts  &  graces  rare 
then  (that  your  words  her  worthy  wyll  may  pearce) 
mount  mynd  and  muze,  the  Queene  shall  reade  y^  verse. 

And  in  your  verse,  be  bolld  to  tell  her  playne, 
that  in  my  lyfe  (one  onely  Joye  except) 
I  never  fownd  delight  that  could  remayne, 
styll  permanent  /  nor  free  from  dole  be  kept 
A  thousand  Joyes,  my  Jollye  youth  hath  tryed 
Yett  none  but  one,  could  styll  with  me  abyde. 

One  sweete  ther  ys,  which  never  yett  seemd  sowre 
one  Joye  of  Joyes,  whom  never  gryef  disgraste, 
one  worlde  of  myrth,  withowt  one  mowmfull  howre 
one  happy  thoughte,  which  (yett)  no  dowbt  defast 
what  is  ytt?  speake!  (my  mynde  &  muze)  be  bolld 
ytt  is  butt  this :  my  Queene  for  to  behold. 

UEnvoie 

Queene  by  your  leave,  hath  bene  (yn  olden  dayes) 
A  pretye  playe  /  whereyn  the  prynce  gave  chardge, 
(So  that  the  pale,  were  styll  kept  hole  allwayes) 
to  take  the  best,  and  leave  the  rest  att  large.  / 

178  F.  M.  Padelford,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  19. 


THE   MroDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  295 

Queene  by  your  leave :  my  muze  the  best  hath  fownde, 
And  yett  I  hope,  the  pale  ys  safe  and  sownde.  /  "^"^^ 

Two  other  poems  of  Gascoigne's  show  his  consciousness 
of  the  ballade  form.  In  Hearbes  we  find,  *'In  that  other 
endie  of  his  sayde  close  walks  were  written  these  toyes  in 
ryme."  The  "toyes  in  ryme"  are  three  six-line  stanzas 
with  refrain  (but  no  rimes  in  common)  .^^^  The  third  of 
the  five  six-line  stanzas  of  The  SMeld  of  Love^^^  (each  one 
riming  a  b  a  b  c  c),  suggests  certainly  the  ballade  stock 
of  ideas. 

"  In  colder  cares  are  my  conceipts  consumd, 
Than  Dido  felt  when  false  ^neas  fled ; 
In  farre  more  heat,  than  trusty  Troylus  fumde, 
When  craftie  Cressyde  dwelt  with  Diomed: 
My  hope  such  frost,  my  hot  desire  such  flame 
That  I  both  fryse  and  smoulder  in  the  same." 

VI.  The  Ballade  in  Scotland 

That  there  were  a  number  of  ballades  composed  in  Middle 
Scots  seems  likely,^^^  although  only  three  examples  of  the 
form  in  that  dialect  seem  to  have  been  printed.  And  of  the 
three,  only  one,  The  Ballad  of  Good  Counsel,  exhibits  the 
conventional  structure.  Skeat  has  devised  this  title  because 
the  Scots  poem  ''is  an  obvious  imitation  of  the  'Ballad  of 
Good  Counser  by  Chaucer  which  begins,  'Fie  fro  the  presse 
and  dwel  with  sothf astnesse. '  '  '^^^  Both  of  these  consist  of 
three  seven-line  stanzas. 

i"9j.  W.  Cunliffe,  The  Glasse  of  Government  and  Other  Works 
(Cambridge,  1910),  p.  516. 

180  J,  w.  Cunliffe,  Gascoigne's  The  Posies  (Cambridge,  1907), 
p.  353. 

181  J.  W.  Cunliffe,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  340. 

182  The  present  author  looks  forward  to  investigating  the  manu- 
script collections  in  the  various  Scottish  libraries. 

183  W.  W.  Skeat,  Kingis  Quair  (London,  1884),  p.  94. 


296  THE  BALLADE 

"  Sen  throw  Vertew  incressis  dignitie,  , 

And  vertew  is  flour  and  rute  of  Noblesse  ay,  I 

Of  ony  wit,  or  quhat  estait  thow  be. 

His  steppis  follow,  and  dreid  for  none  effray :  ; 

Eject  vice,  and  follow  treuth  alway :  i 

Lufe  maist  thy  God  that  first  thy  lufe  began,  * 

And  for  ilk  inche  he  will  the  quyte  ane  span. 

Be  not  ouir  proude  in  thy  prosperitie,  j 

For  as  it  cummis,  sa  will  it  pas  away;  j 

The  tyme  to  compt  is  schort,  thow  may  weill  se, 
For  of  grene  gress  sone  cummis  wallowit  hay. 
Labour  in  treuth,  quhilk  suith  is  of  thy  fay;  \ 

Traist  maist  in  God,  for  he  best  gyde  the  can,  ^ 

And  for  ilk  inche  he  will  the  quyte  ane  span. 

Sen  word  is  thrall,  and  thocht  is  only  fre,  ! 

Thou  dant  thy  toung,  that  power  hes  and  may,  i 

Thou  steik  thy  ene  fra  warldis  vanitie: 

Ref raine  thy  lust  and  harkin  quhat  I  say :  \ 

Graip  or  thow  slyde,  and  keip  furth  the  hie  way, 

Thow  hald  the  fast  upon  thy  God  and  man,  i 

And  for  ilk  inche  he  will  the  quyte  ane  span,"!^*  \ 

The  three  stanza  poem  in  the  Police  of  Hotwur  was,  as  j 

its  refrain  implies,  probably  intended  by  Douglas  for  a  I 

ballade.    The  is  rime  appears  in  both  the  second  and  third  i 
stanzaj, 

"  And  not  but  cans  my  spreitis  wer  abaisit 
All  solitair  in  that  desert  arraisit. 
Allace  I  said  in  name  vther  remeid. 

Cruell  Fortoun  quhy  hes  thow  me  betraisit?  j 

Quhy  hes  thow  thus  my  fatall  end  compassit?  < 

Allace,  allace  sail  I  thus  sone  be  deid  I 

In  this  desert,  and  wait  nane  vther  reid. 

Bot  be  deuoirit  with  sum  beest  Rauenous  , 

I  weip,  I  waill,  I  plene,  I  cry,  I  pleid  I 

Inconstant  world  and  quheill  contrarious.  j 

I 

184  W.  W.  Skeat,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  54.  ' 


THE   MIDDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  297 

Thy  transitorie  plesance  quhat  auaillis?  ' 
Now  thair,  now  heir,  now  hie  and  now  deuaillis 

Now  to,  now  fra,  now  law,  now  Magnifyis  j 

Now  hait,  now  cald,  now  lauchis,  now  beuaillis  i 

Now  seik,  now  haill,  now  werie,  now  not  aillis,  ! 
Now  gude,  now  euill,  now  weitis,  and  now  dryis 

Now  thow  promittis,  and  richt  now  thow  denyis  | 

Now  wo,  now  Weill,  now  firme,  now  friuolous,  : 
Now  gam,  now  gram,  now  lowis,  now  defyis, 
Inconstant  world  and  quheill  contrarious 

Ha  quha  suld  have  affyance  in  thy  blis?  j 

Ha  quha  suld  have  firme  esperance  in  this?  j 

Quhilk  is  allace  se  freuch  and  variant.  \ 

Certes  nane,  sum  hes,  no  wicht?  surelie  3is  \ 

Than  hes  my  self  bene  gyltie :  3e :  I  wis  i 

Thairfoir  allace  sail  danger  thus  me  dant?  • 

Quhidder  is  becum  sa  sone  this  duillie  hant?  f 

And  Ver  translait  in  winter  furious?  | 
Thus  I  beuaill  my  faites  repugnant. 

Inconstant  world  and  quheill  contrarious."^®^  | 

Another  poem,  the  author  of  which  is  unknown,  suggests  j 

by  reason  of  its  three  stanzas  and  refrain  the  French  fixed  j 

verse  form:  i 

"  When  Flora  had  o'erfret  the  firth,  j 
In  May  of  every  moneth  queen; 

When  merle  and  mavis  sings  with  mirth,  j 

Sweet  melling  in  the  schawes  sheen;  ') 

When  all  lovers  rejoiced  been  | 

And  most  desirous  of  their  prey;  j 

I  heard  a  lusty  lover  mene: —  ' 
^I  love  but  I  dare  nocht  assay.' 

*  Strong  are  the  pains  I  daily  prove, 
But  yet  with  patience  I  sustene 

i85Gawyn   Douglas,    The   Police   of   Honour    (Edinburgh,    1827),  ; 
pp.  2-3. 


298  THE  BALLADE 

I  am  so  fettered  with  the  love 

Only  of  my  lady  sheen, 

Whilk  for  her  beauty  might  be  queen 

Nature  so  craftily  alway 

Has  done  depaint  that  sweet  serene ! — 

Whom  I  love  I  dare  nocht  assay. 

'  She  is  so  bright  of  hyd  and  hue 
I  love  but  her  alone,  I  ween; 
Is  none  her  love  that  may  eschew, 
That  blinkis  of  that  dulce  amene; 
So  comely  clear  are  her  twa  een, 
That  she  mae  lovers  does  affrae 
Than  ever  of  Greece  did  fair  Helene ! — 
Whom  I  love  I  dare  nocht  assay/ "^®® 

Conclusion 

The  chronology  of  the  ballade  in  Middle  English  litera- 
ture is  difficult  to  determine.  There  were  probably  experi- 
ments with  the  form  before  Chaucer.  And  it  may  well  have 
been  in  use  also  at  the  very  end  of  the  fifteenth  and  the 
beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century.  There  are  few  names 
connected  with  its  history:  with  Chaucer,  Lydgate,  and 
Quixley  the  tale  is  told.  Chaucer's  hallades  stand  out  as 
superior  to  all  in  poetic  quality,  though  even  their  merit  is 
uneven.  Lydgate 's  adaptation  of  the  form  to  the  purposes 
of  religion  did  not  produce  a  ballade  worthy  to  be  compared 
to  Villon's  prayer.  As  for  the  translations  from  the  French 
of  Charles  d 'Orleans,  they  retain  only  in  a  measure  what- 
ever glamour  is  possessed  by  the  originals. 

That  a  student  of  fifteenth  century  writers  finds  much 

186  W.  E.  Henley,  English  Lyrics  (London,  1897),  p.  25.  Henley 
said  of  the  poem  (Opus  Cit.,  p.  376) :  ** Preserved  in  the  Bannatyne 
Ms.  (Pt.  V.  no.  exeii  in  the  Hunterian  Club's  impression),  it  was 
transcribed  by  Ramsay  for  The  Ever  Green  and  there  may  well 
have  given  Burns  a  hint  for  the  metrical  structure  of  Mary  Morrison.'* 


THE   MIDDLE  ENGLISH   BALLADE  299 

that  is  curious  rather  than  beautiful  has  long  been  a  com- 
monplace of  literary  criticism.  The  ballade  of  that  cen- 
tury is  no  exception;  it,  too,  is  for  the  most  part  curious 
rather  than  beautiful.  The  discursiveness  of  the  age,  the 
tendency  then  prevalent  to  compose  prolonged  verse  nar- 
ratives, the  scarcity  of  rime  words  in  Middle  English, — all 
these  circumstances  were  obstacles  to  the  further  develop- 
ment of  the  ballade.  Though  it  is  probably  true  that  the 
stanzaic  structure  of  both  English  and  Scottish  poetry  was 
modified  by  the  various  types  of  French  ballade  stanzas, 
the  form  itself  languished  in  England  for  about  three  hun- 
dred years.  After  Chaucer,  for  that  matter,  the  ballade 
was  not  conspicuously  successful  until  the  days  of  Swin- 
burne, Andrew  Lang,  Austin  Dobson,  and  Edmund  Gosse. 


CHAPTER  V 
THE  BALLADE  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTUEY 

The  hallade,  neglected  in  France  for  a  hundred  and  fifty 
years  or  more,  was  revived  there  in  the  late  fifties  of  the 
last  century.  Shortly  afterward,  in  England  and  in 
America,  the  same  verse  form  was  widely  adopted  both  by 
poets  and  by  poetasters.  Its  reappearance  in  English  liter- 
ature, after  the  lapse  of  four  centuries,  was  due  obviously 
to  the  close  intellectual  relations  existing  between  France 
and  England  during  the  past  century.  At  its  second  com- 
ing to  England,  it  found  a  much  more  general  recognition 
than  it  had  in  the  age  of  Chaucer.  In  fact,  a  group  of  mid- 
Victorian  poets  produced  such  successful  examples  of  the 
form  that  their  contemporaries  were  also  moved  to  write 
ballades.  And  in  this  way  English  letters  came  again  into 
this  charming  legacy  from  medieval  France. 

The  revival  of  the  hallade  is  a  phase  of  the  so-called 
Romanticism  which  expressed  itself  variously  in  nine- 
teenth century  French  literature.^  The  poetic  sons  of  Vic- 
tor Hugo,  far  from  slavishly  following  his  tj^pe  of  revolt, 
appear  to  have  prided  themselves  generally  on  the  "dis- 
sidence  of  their  dissent.''  Sainte-Beuve  is  generally  cred- 
ited with  having  reintroduced  the  hallade  into  France.^ 

1  Th6ophilc  Gautier,  in  Les  Grotesques,  devotes  some  pg^es  to  Villon ; 
Villon's  place  in  Les  Grotesques  undoubtedly  foreshadows  the  revival 
of  the  hallade.  (In  the  article  in  the  Enci/clop(edia  Britannica  on 
Gautier,  the  date  of  the  first  edition  of  Les  Grotesques  is  given  as 
1844.) 

2  E.  Gosse,  A  Plea  for  Certain  Exotic  Forms  of  Verse,  Cornhill 
Magazine  (1877),  p.  67. 

300 


THE   BALLADE  IN  THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY  301 

Two  stanzas  indeed  of  a  Ballade  du  Vieux  Temps  are  in- 
cluded in  his  collected  poems: 

"  A  qui  mettait  tout  dans  Famour, 
Quand  Famour  lui-meme  decline, 
II  est  une  lente  mine, 
Un  deuil  amer  et  sans  retour, 
L'automne  trainant  s'achemine; 
Chaque  hiver  s'allonge  d'un  tour; 
En  vain  le  printemps  s'illumine; 
Sa  lumiere  n'est  plus  divine 
A  qui  mettait  tout  dans  Tamour! 

En  vain  la  Beaute  sur  sa  tour, 

Ou  fleurit  en  bas  I'aubepine, 

Moulte  avec  I'aurore  et  fascine 

Le  regard  qui  rode  a  Fentour. 

En  vain  sur  I'ecume  marine 

De  jour  encore  sourit  Cyprine: 

Ah!  quand  ce  n'est  plus  que  de  jour, 

Sa  grace  elle-meme  est  chagrine 

A  qui  mettait  tout  dans  I'amour !  "^ 

It  was,  in  particular,  Theodore  de  Banville  (1820-1891), 
who,  in  his  conscious  desire  to  introduce  unusual  and  in- 
tricate rime  combinations  into  French  poetry  once  more, 
returned  to  the  native  fixed  forms  and  especially  to  the 
ballade.  A  survey  of  the  generation  which  revived  the 
ballade  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  Banville  is  by  far  the 
most  significant  figure  so  far  as  this  form  goes.  Glatigny, 
Coppee,  Rollinat,  Jean  Richepin,  Rostand,  Bergerat,  Tail- 
hade,  and  others,*  followed  his  direction ;  but  his  work  was 
admittedly  the  most  influential. 

3C.  Sainte-Beuve,  PoSsies  Completes  (Paris,  1879),  p.  350. 

•*  Other  nineteenth  century  Frenchmen  who  have  used  the  ballade 
are  Raoul  Ponchon,  Paul  Verlaine,  Maurice  Boucher.  It  is  not,  of 
course,  the  purpose  of  the  present  writer  to  discuss  all  the  ballades 
written  at  any  given  time  in  either  France  or  England. 


302  THE  BALLADE 

In  the  dizain,  addressed  to  the  reader,  which  is  prefixed 
to  Banville's  Trente-six  Ballades  Joyeuses,  he  refers  to 
Villon: 

"  Comme  Villon  qui  polit  sa  Ballade 
Au  temps  jadis,  pour  charmer  ton  souei 
J'ai  f  aQonne  la  mienne,  et  la  voici  '^ ; 

and  again,  at  the  close  of  the  same  collection,  there  occurs 
an  enthusiastic  defense  of  the  poet  vagabond.  If,  ingeni- 
ously writes  Banville,  Villon  is  to  be  classed  with  thieves, 
he  must  rank  at  least,  because  of  the  nature  of  his  theft, 
with  Prometheus,  who  filched  divine  fire.  As  this  pro- 
logue and  epilogue  indicate,  it  was  clearly  Villon  from 
whom  Banville  learned  the  gracious  art  of  the  ballade. 
Similarly,  the  English  poets,  once  they  became  interested  in 
the  old  French  form,  studied  Villon. 

Whatever  the  source  of  Banville 's  inspiration,  his  tech- 
nique became  remarkably  effective.  It  is  his  technique  to 
which  critics  call  our  attention  with  favorable  or  unfavor- 
able comment.  Dowden  said  of  him,  some  years  ago,  that 
he  ''taught  modern  poets  to  unite  lyrical  impulse  with  the 
most  delicate  technical  skill.  "^  On  the  other  hand,  one  of 
the  latest  historians  of  French  literature  takes  pleasure  in 
recalling  the  epithet  by  which  a  French  critic  distinguished 
Banville,  ''cuisinier  poetique,"®  and  adds  that  Banville  was 
the  author  of  "poetry  in  which  the  Romanticist's  fondness 
for  rhyme  has  become  the  writer's  chief  cult,  so  that  he  is 
always  endeavoring  to  surmount  some  obstacle  of  verse, 
and  the  effect  is  often  that  produced  by  an  acrobat  who  has 

5  E.  Dowden,  On  Some  French  Writers  of  Verse,  Cornhill  Magazine 
(1877),  p.  294. 

«C.  H.  C.  Wright,  A  History  of  French  Literature  (New  York 
and  London,  1912),  p.  791. 


THE   BALLADE  IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY  303 

just  performed  a  difficult  task."^  Andrew  Lang,  less 
severe,  said  of  him  in  general,  '*he  is  careful  of  form  rather 
than  abundant  in  manner."®  But  of  the  Trente-six  Bal- 
lades Joyetises,^  Lang  wrote,  **  There  is  scarcely  a  more 
delightful  little  volume  in  the  French  language  than  this 
collection  of  verses  in  the  most  difficult  of  forms,  which  pour 
forth  with  absolute  ease  and  fluency,  notes  of  mirth,  banter, 
joy  in  the  spring,  in  letters,  art,  and  good  fellowship. 

'L'oiselet  retoume  aux  forets; 

Je  suis  un  poete  lyrique, — ^ 

he  cries  with  a  note  like  a  bird's  song."^° 

And  Stevenson,  with  equal  enthusiasm,  declared,  *  *  When 
De  Banville  revives  a  forgotten  form  of  verse — ^^and  he  has 
already  had  the  honor  of  reviving  the  ballade — he  does  it  in 
the  spirit  of  the  workman  choosing  a  good  tool  wherever  he 
can  find  one,  and  not  at  all  in  that  of  the  dilettante,  who 
seeks  to  renew  bygone  forms  of  thought  and  make  historic 
forgeries.  .  .  .  De  Banville 's  poems  are  full  of  color;  they 
smack  racily  of  modern  life."" 

Banville 's  ballades  justify  these  generous  appreciations, 
whatever  charge  of  poetic  trickery  may  be  lodged  against 
his  other  verse.    His  early  Ballade  des  Celebrites  du  Temps 

"^  Ibid.  Cf.  also  Jules  Lemaitre,  Les  Contemporains  (Paris,  1890), 
p.  7 :  * '  M.  Theodore  de  Banville  est  un  poete  lyrique  hypnotist  par  la 
rime,  le  dernier  venu,  le  plus  amuse  et  dans  ses  bon  jours  le  plus 
amusant  des  romantiques,  un  clown  en  po6sie  qui  a  eu  dans  sa  vie 
plusieurs  idees,  dont  la  plus  persistante  a  et6  de  n'exprimer  aucune 
idee  dans  ses  vers. ' ' 

8  Andrew  Lang,  Theodore  de  Banville,  Essays  in  Little  (New  York, 
1891),  p.  65. 

»  Composed  between  1861  and  1869. 

10  Andrew  Lang,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  65. 

11 R.  L.  Stevenson,  Charles  of  Orleans,  Familiar  Studies  of  Men 
and  Books  (New  York,  1900),  p.  273. 


304  THE  BALLADE 

Jadis,^^  a  parody  of  Villon's  masterpiece,  is  a  satire  con- 
cerned with  the  literati  of  the  day.  Banville  says  in  his 
notes,  *'J'ai  conserve  tel  qu'il  est  le  celebre  refrain  de 
Villon:  Mais  ou  sont  les  neiges  d'antan!  et  j'ai  tache  de 
mettre  mon  art  a  amener  ce  refrain  par  un  jeu  de  rimes 
tout  different  de  celui  que  le  maitre  avait  employe.  "^^  Of 
the  same  year,  and  included,  too,  in  the  Odes  Funambu- 
lesques,  is  the  Ballade  des  Travers  de  ce  Tempsj^^  which 
deals,  also  in  a  satirical  vein,  with  the  literary  notables  of 
the  day.     His  Ballade  de  la  Vraie  Sagesse^^  begins  thus : 

"Mon  bon  ami,  poete  aux  longs  cheveux, 
Joueur  de  flute  a  I'humeur  vagabonde, 
Pour  Fan  qui  vient  je  t'addresse  mes  voeux : 
Enivre-toi,  dans  une  paix  profonde, 
Du  vin  sanglant  et  de  la  beaute  blonde. 
Comme  a  Noel,  pour  faire  reyeillon 
Pres  du  foyer  en  flamme,  ou  le  grillon 
Chant  a  mi-voix  pour  charmer  ta  paresse, 
Toi,  vieux  Gaulois  et  fils  du  bon  Villon, 
Vide  ton  verre  et  baise  ta  maitresse." 

Of  the  Trente-six  Ballades  Joyeuses,'^^  at  least  twelve  are 
similar  in  tone.  These  seem  for  the  most  part  to  have  been 
undertaken  to  show  how  certain  conventional  themes  might 
be  shaped  in  the  newly  revived  form.  There  is,  for  example, 
a  Ballade  des  Belles  Chdlonnaises,  the  first  stanza  of  which 
runs: 

"  Pour  boire  j'aime  un  compagnon, 
J'aime  une  franche  gaillardise, 

12  Theodore  de  Banville,  Odes  Funambulesqucs  (Paris,  no  date), 
p.  254.    The  ballades  in  this  collection  are  dated  1856. 

i8  76td.,  p.  380. 

I*  Ibid.,  p.  260. 

^5  Ibid.,  p.  284. 

16  Cf.  A.  T.  Strong,  The  Ballades  of  ThSodore  de  Banville  (Lon- 
don, 1913). 


THE   BALLADE  IN  THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY  305 

J'aime  un  broc  de  vin  bourguignon, 
J'aime  de  I'or  dans  ma  valise, 
Jaime  un  verre  fait  a  Venise, 
J'aime  parfois  les  violons, 
Et  sourtout,  pour  faire  a  ma  guise, 
J'aime  les  filles  de  Chalons."^^ 

Then,  there  is  the  Ballade  pour  les  Parisiennes,  in  which 
throughout  **la  femme"  is  confidently  stated  to  be  *'un 
article  de  Paris.  "^®  A  more  formal  style  is  indicated  by 
the  refrain,  *'Le  plus  subtil  ouvrier,  c'est  Amour.  "^® 
Pour  la  Servante  du  Cabaret ^^^  with  its  refrain,  "Vive 
Margot,  avec  sa  jupe  rouge, ' '  is  reminiscent  in  its  abandon 
of  several  of  the  more  reckless  of  Villon's  ballades. 

Six  of  the  collection  refer  to  Banville's  notions  about 
poets  and  poetry.  He  expresses  regret  for  the  men  of 
1830,-^  and  addresses  ''Victor  Hugo,  pere  de  tons  les 
rimeurs."^-  He  says  in  one  of  this  group,  ''Pourquoi  je 
vis?  Pour  I'amour  du  laurier. "23  In  still  another  fta^^o^e, 
he  apostrophizes  himself: 

"  Assembleur  de  rimes,  Banville, 
C'est  bien  que  les  chardonnerets 
Chantent  dans  les  bois  de  Chaville; 
Mais  veux-tu  ehez  les  Turcarets 
Emplir  ton  coffre  et  tes  coffrets? 
Plante  la  ton  reve  feerique 

1'  Theodore  de  Banville,  Trente-six  Ballades  Joyeuses  (Paris,  1890), 
p.  199. 

i»Ibid.,  p.  238.  Cf.  Villon's  refrain,  ^'11  n'est  bon  bee  que  de 
Paris. ' ' 

19  Ibid.,  p.  251, 

20  Ibid.,  p.  221. 

21  Ibid.,  p.  197. 

22  Ibid.,  p.  255. 
2slbid.,  p.  207. 

21 


306  THE  BALLADE  I 

C'est  bien  dit,  mais  je  ne  saurais, 

Je  suis  un  poete  lyrique."^*  , 

And  the  envoy  of  the  same  poem  is  an  interesting  example        \ 
of  literary  self -portraiture :  j 

"  Prince,  voila  tous  mes  secrets,  ] 

Je  ne  m'intends  qu'a  la  metrique;  ] 

Fils  du  dieu  qui  lance  des  traits,  j 

Je  suis  un  poete  lyrique/'^s  \ 

The  Ballade  a  la  Sainte  Vierge  is  confessedly  an  echo 
of  Villon,  as  the  first  stanza  testifies : 

"  Vierge  Marie !    Apres  ce  bon  rimeur  , 

Francois  Villon,  qui  sut  prier  et  croire,  i 

Et  qui  jadis,  malgre  sa  folle  humeur,  1 

Fit  sa  ballade  immortelle  a  ta  gloire,  ] 

Je  chanterai  ton  regne  et  ta  victoire.  j 

Ton  diademe  eclate  avec  fierte  1 

Et  sur  ton  front  il  rayonne,  enchante.  ] 

Milles  astres  d'or  frissonnent  sur  tes  voiles.  ^ 
Tu  resplendis,  6  Lys  de  purete, 

Dame  des  Cieux,  dans  Fazur  plein  d^etoiles."^^  j 

Banville's  little  play   Gringoire^''   introduces   two   hal- 
lades.     The  hero,  Pierre  Gringoire,^^  is  plainly  modeled  on        ; 
the  lines  of  Banville's  predecessor,  Villon.    Banville  makes 
his  poet  hero  compose  for  King  Louis  a  Ballade  des  Pendus        , 
as  well  as  a  Ballade  des  Pauvres  Gens.    The  title  of  the        j 
former  suggests  Villon's  well  known  epitaph,  but  is  in        ' 
reality  very  different,  as  the  third  stanza  and  envoy  de- 
monstrate : 

2*  Ibid.,  p.  249.  , 

26  Ibid.,  p.  250. 

26  76i^.,  p.  267. 

27  Written  1866.  \ 

28  The  spelling  Gringore  seems  now  to  be  preferred.  j 


THE  BALLADE  IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY  307 

"  Ces  pendus,  au  diable  entendus, 
Appellent  des  pendus  encore. 
Tandis  qu'aux  cieux,  d'azur  tendus, 
Ou  semble  luire  meteore, 
La  rosee  en  I'air  s'evapore, 
Un  essaim  d'oiseaux  rejouis 
Par-dessus  leur  tete  picore, 
C'est  le  verger  du  roi  Louis. 

Envoi 

Prince,  il  est  un  bois  que  decore 
Un  tas  de  pendus  enfouis 
Dans  le  doux  feuillage  sonore, 
C'est  le  verger  du  roi  Louis."^^ 

Indeed,  the  spirit  of  Villon  is  more  evident  in  the  first 
stanza  of  the  ''ballade  des  pauvres  gens"; 

"  Rois,  qui  serez  juges  a  votre  tour, 
Songez  a  eeux  qui  n'ont  ni  sou  ni  maille, 
Ayez  pitie  du  peuple  tout  amour, 
Bon  pour  fouiller  le  sol,  bon  pour  la  taille 
Et  la  charrue,  et  bon  pour  la  bataille. 
Les  malheureux  sont  damnes — c'est  ainsi! — 
Et  leur  fardeau  n'est  jamais  adouei, 
Les  moins  meurtris  n'ont  pas  le  necessaire. 
Le  froid,  la  pluie  et  le  soleil  aussi, 
Aux  pauvres  gens  tout  est  peine  et  misere."^® 

As  earlier  writers  of  ballades  had  done,  Banville  pub- 
lished a  treatise  on  poetics.  In  his  Petit  Traitie  de  Poesie 
Frangaise,^^  he  gives  a  whole  chapter  to  ' '  les  poemes  tradi- 
tionnels  a  forme  fixe. ' '  According  to  his  rules  for  the  haU 
lade,  the  line  unit  must  consist  invariably  either  of  eight  or 

29  Theodore  de  Banville,  Gringoire  (Paris,  1877),  p.  53. 

30  Theodore  de  Banville,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  53. 

31  First  published  in  1872. 


308  THE   BALLADE 

of  ten  syllables  and  may  be  either  a  masculine  or  a  feminine 
line.  Banville  decrees  that  the  three  stanzas  must  be  com- 
posed of  ten  ten-syllable  lines  or  of  eight  eight-syllable 
lines.^  He  makes  no  attempt  to  codify  the  numerous  de- 
partures from  this  procedure  in  earlier  French  literature. 
Banville  also  describes  the  double  hallade^^  with  its  six 
stanzas,  a  form  which  he  used  twice  in  his  own  Trente-six 
Ballades  Joyeuses.  In  all  his  theoretical  talk  he  makes  it 
plain  that  it  was  interest  in  form  that  led  to  his  revival  of 
the  ballade  and  similar  pieces.  It  must  have  been  his  fond- 
ness for  elaborate  rime-schemes  that  made  him  see  poetic 
possibilities  in  these  types  of  old  French  verse.^* 

A  pleasant  interchange  of  ballades  took  place  between 
FrauQois  Coppee  (1843-1908)  and  Banville.  The  Ballade 
de  Frangois  Coppee  a  son  Maitre  Theodore  de  Banville  sur 
leur  Commun  Amour  de  la  Poesie,  is  in  the  vein  of  a  dis- 
ciple, as  the  envoy  testifies : 

"  0  maitre !  6  toi  que  la  Muse  eternelle 
Sur  le  Parnasse  a  mis  en  sentinelle 
Et  pour  son  preux  entre  tous  sut  ehoisir, 
Notre  oeuvre  est  bonne  et  nous  croyons  en  elle : 
Faisons  des  vers  pour  rien,  pour  le  plaisir  I  "^^ 

And  Banville  responded  cordially : 

"  Aimons  la  Muse,  en  depit  des  revers, 
Comme  Rubens  les  deesses  d'Anvers 

32  Theodore  de  Banville,  Petit  Traiti  de  Podsie  Frangaise  (Paris, 
1909),  pp.  188-192. 

S3  Theodore  de  Banville,  Opus  Cit.,  pp.  193-194. 

3*  .Jules  Lemaitre,  Les  Contemporains  (Paris,  1890),  p.  16:  **Du 
moment  qu'il  6tait  ne  ou  qu'il  8*6tait  fait  servant  de  la  rime  et 
son  homme-lige,  il  6tait  inevitable  qu  'il  nous  rendit  ces  bagatelles  com- 
pliqu6es  d'une  sym^trie  difficile,  minutieuse  et  quelque  peu  enfantine 
et  barbare,  oil  la  rime  est  en  effet  reine,  maitresse  et  g6n6trice. ' ' 

85  Francois  Coppee,  Poesies,  1864-1887  (Paris,  no  date),  p.  406. 


THE  BALLADE  IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY  309 

Ou  bien  Neron  sa  maitresse  Popple. 
Pour  elle  encore  j'ai  la  tete  a  I'envers, 
Car  tu  dis  bien,  maitre  Francois  Coppee !  "^® 

Coppee's  other  ballade,  Pour  Deux  Dames  Qui  Sont 
Amies,^'^  is  dedicated  to  two  ladies  whose  charms  bewildered 
the  poet.  It  expresses  in  ballade  form  the  amatory  senti- 
ment so  characteristic  of  Coppee 's  other  verse. 

Albert  Glatigny  (1839-1873),  Laurent  Tailhade  (1857-), 
and  Emile  Bergerat  (1845-)  have  followed  Banville.  Gla- 
tigny  has  been  described  as  "a  travelling  actor  and  extra- 
ordinary improvisor  in  the  moods  of  Theodore  de  Ban- 
ville, *'^^  Tailhade  as  ''a  poet  with  some  of  the  virtuosity 
of  Banville  combined  with  Gascon  exuberance,*'^®  and  Ber- 
gerat labelled  as  "  Banvillesque. ' '^^  Both  in  France  and  in 
England  Banville  was  beyond  doubt  the  one  man  respon- 
sible for  the  renewed  vogue  of  the  ballade. 

Glatigny,  the  vagabond  poet  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
contributed  to  Le  Parnasse  Contemporain,^^  a  Ballade  des 
Enfants  Sans  Souci,*^  which  is  conceived  in  the  same 
pathetic  spirit  in  which  Villon  wrote  of  the  life  he  led : 

"lis  vont  pieds  nus,  le  plus  souvent,  I'hiver 
Met  a  leurs  doigts  des  mitaines  d'onglee. 
Le  soir,  helas!  ils  soupent  de  grand  air, 
Et  sur  leurs  fronts  la  bise  eehevelee 
Gronde,  pareille  au  bruit  d'une  melee. 
A  peine  un  peu  leur  sort  est  adouei 

36  Francois  Coppee,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  407. 

37  Francois  Coppee,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  421. 

38  C.  H.  C.  Wright,  A  History  of  French  Literature  (New  Tork  and 
Londoii,  1912),  p.  796. 

i^Ilid.,  p.  879. 
^olhid.,  p.  848. 
41 1866. 

42  Job-Lazare,  Albert  Glatigny  Sa  Vie  Son  (Euvre  (Paris,  1878), 
p.  147. 


310  THE   BALLADE 

Quand  Avril  fait  la  terre  consolee. 
Ayez  pitie  des  Enfants  sans  souci. 

lis  n'ont  sur  eux  que  le  manteau  du  ver, 
Quand  les  frissons  de  la  voute  etoilee, 
Font  tressaillir  et  briller  leur  ceil  clair. 
Par  la  montagne  abrupte  et  la  vallee, 
lis  vont,  ils  vont !  a  leur  troupe  affolee 
Chacun  repond :  ^  Vous  n'etes  pas  d'ici, 
Prenez  ailleurs,  oiseaux,  votre  volee/ 
Ayez  pitie  des  Enfants  sans  souci. 

Un  froid  de  mort  fait  dans  leur  pauvre  chair 
Glacer  le  sang,  et  leur  veine  est  gelee. 
Les  eoeurs  pour  eux  se  cuirassent  de  fer. 
Le  trepas  vient.     lis  vont  sans  mausolee 
Pourrir  au  coin  d'un  champ  ou  d^une  allee, 
Et  les  corbeaux  mangent  leur  corps  transi 
Que  lavera  la  froide  giboulee. 
Ayez  pitie  des  Enfants  sans  souci. 

Envoi 

Pour  cette  vie  effroyable,  filee 
De  mal,  de  peine,  ils  te  disent:  merei! 
Muse,  comme  eux,  avec  eux  exilee, 
Ayez  pitie  des  Enfants  sans  souci." 

Laurent  Tailhade*s  Douze  Ballades  Familieres  pour  Ex- 
asperer  le  Mufle^^  employ  the  form  for  ferocious  satire.** 

♦3  Laurent  Tailhade,  Au  Pays  du  Mufle,  Preface  d'Armand  Sil- 
vestre  (Paris,  1891). 

**Cf.  Silvestre  (ibid.,  p.  11):  ''les  ballades  .  .  .  sont  parmi  les 
plus  parfaites  que  j'aie  vues  Sorites,  et  dans  le  sentiment  le  plus 
raffine  d'un  rythme,  essentiellement  frangaise.  EUes  sont  d 'ailleurs 
d'une  gaiety  egalement  f^roce  avec  le  cinglement  en  plus,  k  I'oreille, 
des  assonances  repet^s.  .  .  .  Dans  toutes  le  rire  d^^chire  la  16vre. 
On  n'a  jamais  rien  6crit  de  moins  bon  enfant.  Autant  de  sang  que 
de  fiel,  cependant,  dans  ces  indignations, — il  semble  que,  de  ce  stylet 
sans  pitie  qui  d^chire  un  peu  k  I'aventure  peut-etre,  le  po^te  se  soit 
lui-meme  souvent  6gratign6.'' 


THE   BALLADE  IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY  311 

Because  of  their  coarseness,  Rabelaisian  in  quality,  they  are 
unsuitable  for  quotation.  Such  titles  as  De  la  Generation 
Artificielle,*^  Touchant  L*Ignominie  de  la  Classe  Moyenne,*^ 
Confraternelle  pour  Servir  a  L'Histoire  des  Lettres  Fran- 
gaises,^"^  suggest,  too  mildly  perhaps,  some  victims  of  the 
**  stylet  sans  pitie."  The  last-named  ballade  contains  a 
series  of  vicious  attacks  on  contemporary  French  writers; 
happily  Banville  is  not  named. 

A  more  urbane  follower  of  Banville,  Emile  Bergerat, 
acknowledges  his  master  in  his  Ballade  a  Banville: 

"  Je  te  le  dis,  tel  le  pecheur  au  pretre : 
Si  j'etais  riche, — et  je  sais  pourquoi 
Point  ne  le  suis,  tant  j'en  vois  d'autres  Petre 
Qui  ne  Font  point  merite  plus  que  moi, — • 
De  tout  le  jour  je  ne  ferais  emploi, 
Habile  ou  non,  bien  portant  ou  malade, 
Qu'au  jeu  charmant  dont  tu  fixes  la  loi; 
II  n'est  plaisir  qu^a  bailer  la  ballade. 

Travail  frangais,  dont  Villon  est  le  maitre, 
Fait  a  la  main  en  ces  siecles  de  foi 
Ou  Ton  prenait  ou  mot,  voire  h  la  lettre, 
L'honneur  du  verbe  et  la  faveur  du  roi. 
Y  triompher  c'etait  vaincre  au  tournoi: 
Mais  aujourd'hui  quelle  degringolade ! 
Ouvrer  les  vers  c'est  se  parer  pour  soi; 
II  n'est  plaisir  qu'a  bailer  la  ballade. 

Dans  notre  etat,  heroique  peut-etre, 
Rien  ne  se  paie  au  prix  de  bon  aloi; 
L'argent  comptant  est  en  boutons  de  guetre 
Et  nul,  vivant,  n'y  gagne  son  convoi. 
Pour  la  critique,  6  muses,  c'est  Foctroi 

45  L.  Tailhade,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  17. 
*eL.  Tailhade,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  19. 
47  L.  Tailhade,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  37. 


312  THE  BALLADE 

Qui  juge  au  poids  et  juge  a  I'accolade 

Et  la  sagesse  est  de  se  tenir  coi. 

II  n'est  plaisir  qu'a  bailer  la  ballade. 

Envoi 

Prince,  et  chez  nous,  Theodore,  c'est  toi, 
Nous  buvons  tous  I'encre  a  la  regalade, 
Le  mal  d'ecrire  en  a  tue  Peffroi, 
II  n'est  plaisir  qu'a  bailer  la  ballade."*^ 

Bergerat  is  one  of  the  most  prolific  of  modern  hallade 
writers.  His  themes  are  chiefly  those  of  familiar  verse. 
Possibly  the  most  interesting  from  the  standpoint  of  liter- 
ary history  is  the  Ballade  Camhogienne,  printed  anony- 
mously by  Comoedia,  which  challenged  its  readers  to  guess 
the  author.    The  first  stanza  reads  thus : 

"D'un  gave — ^j'emprunte  a  Nisard 
Ses  periphrases  gangrenees 
De  lieux  communs — en  saut  d'isard. 
Un  bruit  de  rimes  egrenees 
Qui  semblent  du  zephyre  nees 
Sur  le  vent  de  I'arc  qu'Eros  tend 
Nous  arrive  des  Pyrenees: 
C'est  Tatelier  d'Edmond  Rostand."*^ 

On  the  following  day,  Rostand  himself  sent  to  the  same 
journal  his  solution.  Ballade  sur  une  Ballade  Anonyme, 
the  second  stanza  of  which  proclaims: 

"  Aussi  vrai  que  d'Hermes  naquit 
Sa  lyre,  et  de  Pan  la  syringe, 
Que  le  Hongrois  boit  du  raki, 

*8Emile  Bergerat,  Ballades  et  Sonnets  (Paris,  1910),  p.  11.  This 
hallade  is  one  of  three  ' '  en  honneur  de  la  bonne  ballade  f ran^aise. ' ' 
This  volume  contains  in  all  forty-four  hallades. 

<»EiniIe  Bergerat,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  141. 


THE  BALLADE  IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY  313 

Que  le  Chinois  tresse  la  ginge, 
Qu'il  etait  en  ecus  de  singe 
Le  tresor  qu'une  Humbert  gera, 
Et  que  Mergy  tua  Comminge, 
La  ballade  est  de  Bergerat."**^ 

Another  member  of  this  second  generation  of  Romanticists 
followed  Banville  in  writing  ballades.  The  decadent  author 
of  Les  Nevroses,  Maurice  RoUinat  (1846-1903),  includes 
twelve  among  this  ' '  wild  collection  of  poems  on  disease  and 
corruption."  These  twelve  are  in  truth  not  unwholesome 
in  tone.  Only  the  Ballade  du  Cadavre,  with  its  refrain, 
*'La  pourriture  lente  et  Tennui  du  squelette,  "^^  is  strik- 
ingly unpleasant.  The  Ballade  de  VArc-en-ciel  has  for 
its  ingenious  refrain  the  line,  "Bleu,  rouge,  indigo,  vert, 
violet,  jaune,  orange.  "^^  De  la  Beine  des  Fourmis  et  du 
Roi  des  Cigales^^  is  a  kind  of  allegory,  not  indeed  as  Des- 
champs  used  the  ballade  for  conveying  a  fable,  but  in  the 
same  spirit  as  Brieux  used  the  title  Hannetons  for  a  play 
in  which  the  lovers  treat  each  other  with  a  cruelty  com- 
parable to  that  of  their  insect  prototypes.  The  relations 
between  the  queen  of  the  ants  and  the  king  of  the  grass- 
hoppers are  described  by  Rollinat  in  such  a  way  as  to  sug- 
gest an  idyllic  human  love.  De  la  Petite  Rose  et  die  Petit 
Bluef^*  is  a  similarly  conceived  symbol  of  idyllic  senti- 
ment. In  several  of  the  other  ballades,  notably  Pes  Lezards 
Verts,  with  its  refrain,  ''Leurs  petits  flancs  peureux  qui 
tremblent  au  soleil,"^^  and  Du  Chataignier  Bond,  with  its 
refrain,  ''Sous  le  chataignier  rond  dresse  comme  un  fan- 

50Emile  Bergerat,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  144. 

52lhid.,  p.  128. 

51  Maurice  Eollinat,  Les  Nevroses  (Paris,  1907),  p.  377. 

53  Ibid.,  p.   156.    • 

5^  Hid.,  p.  178. 

55lMd.,  p.  198. 


314  THE  BALLADE 

tome,"^*'  RoUinat  shows  a  less  generalized  and  more  inti- 
mate observation  of  nature.  Wholly  unlike  his  other  bal- 
lades is  La  Dame  en  Cire,  a  distressing  cry  to  a  lay  figure 
in  wax  to  come  to  life: 

"  0  toi  qui  m'as  si  souvent  visite, 
Satan!  vieux  roi  de  la  perversite, 
Fais-moi  la  grace,  6  sulfureux  Messire, 
Par  un  minuit  lugubrement  tinte, 
De  voir  entrer  chez  moi  la  dame  en  cire !  "^^ 

RoUinat  generally  used  the  ballade  to  express  a  reflective 
mood  and  once  or  twice  to  convey  queer  trifling.  His  bal- 
lades, if  considered  apart  from  his  other  poetry,  would 
never  impress  one  as  the  products  of  decadence.  In  form, 
they  follow  Banville's  models  closely.  RoUinat  could  not, 
however,  from  his  very  nature,  have  made  his  ballades  the 
delicious  lighthearted  lyrics  that  Banville's  were. 

Rostand's  (1868-)  three  ballades,  included  in  Les  Musar- 
diseSj^^  are  the  lightest  of  poetic  trifles.  There  is  the  guile- 
less Ballade  au  Petit  Bebe,  one  stanza  of  which  will  show 
that  the  art  of  the  author  of  Cyrano  is  not  adapted,  as  was 
that  of  Blake  and  Christina  Rossetti,  to  the  interpretation 
of  child  life : 

"  Apr^s  quoi,  longuement,  il  have. 
Et  comme  un  objet  inconnu 
II  contemple,  reveur  et  grave, 
Son  pied  dans  ses  deux  mains  tenu. 
Et,  pris  du  desir  saugrenu 
De  sucer  son  bout  de  chausette 
Auquel  il  n'est  pas  parvenu, 
Le  petit  bebe  fait  risette."*^® 

58J6id.,  p.  226. 

6T  Ihid.,  p.  329. 

88  Written  1887-1893. 

59Edmond  Rostand,  Les  Musardises  (Paris,  1911),  p.  85. 


THE   BALLADE  IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY  316 

The  Ballade  de  la  Nouvelle  Annee  is  a  half -serious  ap- 
peal to  the  New  Year  to  endow  everyone  with  his  particular 
heart's  desire: 

"Donne  un  papillon  aux  touffes  de  thym 
Et  des  goelands  au  cap  de  la  Heve; 
Le  touriste  Anglais  au  Napolitain; 
Au  due  de  Nemours  Madame  de  Cleve; 
Au  vieillard  un  songe,  au  jeune  homme  un  reve; 
Donne  un  livre  au  sage,  un  tambour  au  fou, 
Un  eleve  au  maitre,  un  maitre  a  I'eleve  .  .  . 
II  faut  a  chaeun  donner  son  joujou."^* 

The  Ballade  des  Vers  Qu'on  ne  Finit  Jamais  is  delicately 
expressed  but  perfectly  superficial  in  emotion.  The  senti- 
ment of  the  whole  poem  is  plain  from  the  envoy: 


"  Lecteur,  je  suis  navre.    Ces  vers  que  je  te  livre  I 

— Dont,  peut-etre  on  vendre  le  papier  a  la  livre, —  ' 

Ne  sont  pas,  il  s'en  faut,  helas !  ceux  que  j'aimais.  j 

Car  les  meilleurs,  comment  les  mettre  dans  un  livre?  | 

Les  meilleurs,  sont  les  vers  qu'on  ne  finit  jamais."®^  \ 

Jean  Richepin's  (1849-)  Ballade  de  Bonne  Recompense  \ 

recalls  the  more  sordid  of  Villon's  genius:  \ 

"  A  qui,  civil  ou  militaire,  i 

A  pied,  meme  en  aerostat,  ' 

Trouverait  le  mot  du  mystere  \ 

Par  ou  mon  etre  s'enchanta,  ^ 

A  qui  m'appellerait  beta  ] 
De  pleurer  encor  quand  j'y  pense, 
A  celui-la  j'offre  recta 

Quarante  sous  de  recompense.  j 

A  qui  de  Montmatre  a  Cythere,  j 

Trouverait,  pour  qu'il  Tattestat,  ^ 

60  E.  Rostand,  O-pus  Cit.,  p.  96. 
«i  E.  Rostand,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  121. 


316  THE   BALLADE 

Fille  de  gueux  ou  de  iiotaire 

Plus  belle  d'un  seul  iota 

Que  la  maitresse  qui  fit  a 

Mon  coeur  le  grand  trou  que  je  pause, 

A  qui  de  ses  yeux  s'abrita, 

Quarante  sous  de  recompense. 

A  qui  rapporterait  de  terre 
Ou  du  ciel  que  mon  vol  tenta, 
Mon  dernier  espoir,  solitaire 
Loin  de  celle  qui  me  quitta, 
Las !  dans  n'importe  quel  etat, 
Je  lui  gamirais  bien  la  pause, 
Pourvu  qu'il  me  le  rapportat. 
Quarante  sous  de  recompense. 

Envoi 

0  toi  qui  commis  1' attentat, 
Femme,  voici  pour  la  depense 
De  la  croix  de  mon  Golgotha, 
Quarante  soux  de  recompense/'®^ 

In  the  last  part  of  the  decade  between  1870  and  1880, 
about  twenty  years  after  Banville's  beginnings,  the  revival 
of  the  English  ballade  took  place.  In  England,  the  form 
was  in  favor  with  Dobson,  Gosse,  Lang,  Swinburne,  and 
Henley.  In  America  it  has  recommended  itself  to  Brander 
Matthews,  Frank  Dempster  Sherman,  Clinton  Scollard, 
and  others.  In  both  countries,  the  ballade  continues  to  be 
written  for  the  daily  papers  and  for  the  magazines.  This 
return  of  the  ballade  to  English  literature  was  effected 
by  a  revival  of  interest  in  such  older  poets  as  Charles 
d 'Orleans  and  Frangois  Villon,  and  by  the  impression 
made  in  England  by  the  work  of  Theodore  de  Banville. 
Very  significant,  too,  in  the  history  of  the  ballade,  are 

«2  Jean  Eichepin,  Les  Caresses  (Paris,  1898),  p.  240. 


THE  BALLADE  IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY  317 

the  articles  published  in  the  Cornhill  Magazine  in  1876 
and  in  ISll.^^  In  the  first  of  these  years  appeared  Steven- 
son's sympathetic  study  of  Charles  of  Orleans,  and  in  the 
following  year,  the  same  author's  brilliant  Frangois  Villon, 
Student,  Poet  and  Housebreaker,  Dowden's  On  Some  French 
Verse  Writers,  1830-1877,  and  Gosse's  A  Plea  for  Certain 
Exotic  Forms  of  Verse.  In  this  last  essay,  Gosse  advocated 
a  poetic  policy  which  he  has  since  constantly  followed  in  his 
criticism.  He  wrote  then:  '*We  acknowledge  that  the 
severity  of  the  plan  and  the  rich  and  copious  recurrence  of 
the  rhyme  serve  the  double  end  of  repelling  the  incompetent 
workman  and  stimulating  the  competent.  This  being  so, 
why  should  we  not  proceed  to  the  cultivation  of  other  [than 
the  sonnet]  fixed  forms  of  verse,  which  flourished  in  the 
earliest  days  of  modern  poetic  literature,  and  of  which  the 
sonnet,  if  the  finest,  is  at  least  but  one  ? 

' '  In  point  of  fact,  the  movement  I  advocate  has  begun  on 
all  sides,  with  the  spontaneity  of  an  idea  obviously  ready  to 
be  born.  I  myself,  without  suggestion  from  any  acquaint- 
ance, but  merely  in  consequence  of  reading  the  early  French 
poets,  determined  to  attempt  the  introduction  of  the  hal- 
ade  and  the  rondeau.  But,  to  my  surprise,  I  found  that  I 
had  no  right  to  claim  the  first  invention  of  the  idea.  First 
on  one  hand,  then  on  another,  I  discovered  that  several 
young  writers,  previously  unknown  to  me  and  to  one  an- 
other, had  determined  on  the  same  innovation.  For  some 
time  the  idea  was  confined  to  conversation  and  private  dis- 
cussion. But  these  forms  are  now  being  adopted  by  a  still 
wider  circle,  and  the  movement  seems  so  general  that  the 

63  In  1868  had  been  published  Walter  Besant's  Studies  in  Early 
French  Poetry.  This  work,  among  other  things,  contained  an  ac- 
count of  Villon,  quotations  from  his  work,  and  a  prose  translation  of 
his  Epitaph  in  the  Form  of  a  Ballad. 


318  THE  BALLADE 

time  has  come  to  define  a  little  more  exactly  what  seems  to 
be  desirable  in  this  matter  and  what  not."^* 

In  1911,  in  a  letter  to  the  present  writer,  Mr.  Gosse  said 
in  answer  to  some  inquiries  about  the  revival  of  the  bal- 
lade: ''But  you  should  note  that  1876  is  the  date  of  the  re- 
introduction  of  the  ballade  into  English  literature,  Ros- 
setti's  translation  from  Villon  being  accidental,  in  the  sense 
that  he  was  attracted  to  the  beauty  of  the  old  French  poem 
without  having  perceived,  or  having  attempted  to  retain, 
the  character  of  the  form.  The  reason  for  the  simultaneous 
adoption  of  this  beautiful  form  by  a  number  of  poets  is 
difficult  to  trace.  But  I  think  it  was  connected  with  the 
circulation  in  London  of  certain  copies  of  Banville's 
'Trente-six  ballades  joyeuses.'  This  was  certainly  the  case 
with  Swinburne,  Lang  and  myself,  and  I  believe  with 
Dobson  and  Henley.  But  a  desire  for  the  support  of  a 
more  rigid  and  disciplined  metre  was  in  the  air,  and  we  all 
independently  and  simultaneously  seized  upon  the  French 
forms  of  which  Banville  gave  the  precise  rules  in  his  '  Petit 
Traite.'  I  cannot  find  the  book,  but  I  believe  that  a  new 
edition  of  the  Petit  Traite  was  issued  in  1876.  I  know  that 
I  wrote  at  that  time  a  letter  of  adoring  inquiry,  and  re- 
ceived in  return  a  long  letter  of  sympathy  and  advice  from 
Theodore  de  Banville.  But  do  not  suppose  that  any  of  this 
interest  in  the  '  forms, '  as  we  used  to  call  them,  dates  back 
earlier  than  1870  in  England.  Rossetti  never  sympathized 
with  it  all.'' 

Andrew  Lang,  replying  to  a  question  similar  to  that  ad- 
dressed to  Mr.  Gosse,  answered  thus:  '*I  happened  to  try 
to  translate  a  ballade  of  Villon  in  1870  and  later  found 
Austin  Dobson  and  Gosse  sporting  with  these  toys.    Prob- 

«*  E.  Gosse,  A  Plea  for  Certain  Exotic  Forms  of  Verse,  Cornhill 
Magazine  (1877),  p.  56. 


THE   BALLADE  IN  THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY  319 

ably  Rossetti  and  Swinburne  first  drew  my  attention  to 
Villon  &  Co." 

Mr.  Austin  Dobson,  explaining  his  preoccupation  with  the 
ballade,  wrote  me  as  follows :  * '  I  was  attracted  to  the  French 
forms  because  I  was  seeking  to  give  a  novel  turn  to  the 
lighter  kinds  of  verse  which  I  had  then  been  writing.  Some 
time  between  1873  and  1877,  I  chanced  on  the  Odes  Funam- 
hulesques  of  Theodore  de  Banville,  whose  essays  in  this  kind 
gave  me  the  hint  I  wanted.  I  tried  most  of  the  forms  in  the 
Proverbs  in  Porcelain  of  1877." 

It  was  not  until  1876,  then,  that  the  first  pure  ballades 
appeared  in  modern  English.  In  May  of  that  year  was 
printed  Austin  Dobson 's  Ballad  of  tJie  Prodigals,  and  Swin- 
burne's Ballad  of  Dreamland  came  out  in  September. 
There  had,  it  is  true,  been  translations  of  ballades  of  Alain 
Chartier,  of  Charles  d 'Orleans,  and  of  Villon,  in  Louisa 
Costello's  Specimens  of  Early  Poetry  of  France,  published 
in  1835;  but  Miss  Costello  showed  no  consciousness  at  all 
of  the  rime  features  of  the  old  French  form.  Four  years 
before  (1831),  Longfellow  had  incorporated  in  his  paper 
on  the  Origin  and  Progress  of  the  French  Language^^  his 
version  of  Clement  Marot's  Le  Frere  Lubin.^^  Longfellow, 
like  Miss  Costello,  ignored  the  peculiar  rime  system  of  the 
original.  Rossetti 's  rendering  of  Villon's  greatest  ballade, 
also  earlier  than  Mr.  Dobson 's  Ballad  of  the  Prodigals,  was, 
as  Gosse  wrote,  ''accidental";  Rossetti  did  not  attempt  to 
preserve  the  character  of  the  form  and  never  syrapathized, 
to  quote  Grosse  again,  with  the  group  who  were  experiment- 

65  T.  W.  Higginson,  Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow  (Boston  &  New 
York,  1902),  p.  58. 

66  H.  W.  Longfellow,  Complete  Poetical  WorTcs  (Boston  &  New 
York,  1893),  p.  632.  Bryant  is  also  said  to  have  made  an  early  trans- 
lation of  this  poem.  Andrew  Lang  was  the  first  to  translate  Frere 
Lubin  into  the  original  measure  of  hallad  d  double  refrain.  See 
Ballades  and  Verses  Vain  (New  York,  1884),  p.  23. 


320  THE  BALLADE 

ing  with  it.  Austin  Dobson,  the  genius  of  familiar  verse, 
and  the  first  to  print  his  experiment,  found  in  the  ballade  one 
of  many  metrical  expedients  for  varying  the  treatment  of 
light  and  tender  themes.^'  The  latest  collection  of  his 
poetry  contains  fourteen  ballades.  Their  range  of  subject 
is  not  wide.  There  is  The  Prodigals,  the  first  in  point  of 
time,  with  its  touching  burden,  ' '  Give  us — ah !  give  us — ^but 
yesterday."®^  Then  there  is  a  rollicking  historical  Ballad 
to  Queen  Elizabeth,  ending  thus: 

"  Gloriana !  the  Don  may  attack  us 
Whenever  his  stomach  be  fain; 

He  must  reach  us  before  he  can  rack  us, 
And  where  are  the  galleons  of  Spain?  "^^ 

The  Horation  imitation,  0  Navis,''^  is  a  new  use  for  the 
form.  The  Ballad  of  the  Bore,''^  too,  is  reminiscent  of 
Horace.  Austin  Dobson 's  other  ballades  are  in  the  quaint 
lively  vein  of  his  familiar  verse.  There  is  a  special  fillip  of 
humor  in  the  Ballad  of  Imitation,  with  its  fling  at  all 
critics  who  charge  plagiarism,  in  the  words,  * '  the  man  who 
plants  cabbages  imitates,  too!"^-  A  chamt  royal  on  the 
Dance  of  Death'^^  {after  Holbein)  is  this  poet's  only  adap- 
tation of  a  French  verse  form  to  the  grim  aspects  of  life. 

67  Cf.  G.  Rabache,  Austin  Dobson,  PoHe,  Bevue  Germanique 
(1913),  p.  523:  "Toujours  apparait  son  d^sir  de  supplier  k  I'unite 
coordinatrice  d'une  pen«6e  forte  par  1 'enchaTneTnent  ingenieux  des 
rimes.  A  un  tel  souei  repondaient  admirablement  les  vielles  formes 
fran^aises.  .  .  .  Dobson  revendique  I'honneur  de  les  avoir,  le  premier 
k  notre  epoque,  employees  en  Angleterre.  C'est  sa  reussite,  en  eflfet, 
qui  lui  suscita  de  nombreux  imitateurs. ' ' 

«8  Austin  Dobson,  Collected  Poems  (London,  1909),  p.  486. 

o^Ihid.,  p.  491. 

to  Ibid.,  p.  502. 

^iIbid.,  p.  524. 

-t^Ibid.,  p.  498. 

73  76id.,  p.  504. 


THE   BALLADE  IN  THE  NINETEENTH   CENTUEY  321 

In  1878,  Austin  Dobson  contributed  to  a  volume'^*  con- 
taining ballades  of  his  own,  of  Edmund  Gosse^s  and  of 
John  Payne's,  a  preface  on  Some  Foreign  Forms  of  Verse, 
in  which  he  gave  rules  for  the  making  of  a  ballade.  His 
conception  of  the  restrictions  imposed  by  a  fixed  rime- 
scheme  are  interesting:  "The  rhymes  play  so  important  a 
part  in  the  foregoing  rules,  that  a  few  words  on  this  head 
may  not  unfitly  close  these  notes,  especially  as  those  who 
write  the  forms  do  not  appear  to  be  wholly  agreed  in  the 
matter.  On  the  one  hand,  it  is  advanced  that  the  forms 
are  sufficiently  difficult  in  French,  and  that  to  transfer  them 
to  our  tongue  without  at  the  same  time  adopting  the  French 
system  of  rhyming  is  to  hamper  them  with  superfluous  diffi- 
culties. By  the  French  system  of  rhyming  is  meant  the 
license  used  by  French  writers  to  rhyme  words  of  exactly 
similar  sound  and  spelling  so  long  as  they  have  different 
meanings.  This  is  not  held  to  be  admissible  in  English, 
although  cases  might  be  cited.  Milton,  for  example,  has 
'Ruth'  and  'ruth'  in  one  of  his  sonnets.  On  the  other  hand, 
it  is  contended  that  if  we  import  these  forms,  we  must,  to 
make  them  really  English,  adopt  them  with  all  their  native 
difficulties,  and  add  our  own  as  well."^^ 

In  the  same  preface,  Dobson  set  down  what  may  serve  as 
a  final  word  on  his  own  use  of  the  ballade:  "What  is  mod- 
estly advanced  for  some  of  them  (by  the  present  writer  at 
least),  is  that  they  may  add  a  new  charm  of  buoyancy, — a 
lyric  freshness, — to  amatory  and  familiar  verse  already  too 
much  condemned  to  faded  measures  and  outworn  cadences. 
Further,  upon  assumption  that  merely  graceful  or  tuneful 
trifles  may  be  sometimes  written  (and  even  read),  that  they 
are  admirable  vehicles  for  the  expression  of  trifles  or  jeux 
d'espriV^ 

74  W.  Davenport  Adams,  Latter  Day  Lyrics  (London,  1878). 

75  W.  D.  Adams,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  348. 

76  W.  D.  Adams,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  335. 
22 


322  THE   BALLADE 

Whatever  of  Andrew  Lang's  lives  or  dies,  it  is  safe  to 
say  that  his  ballades  will  not  be  forgotten.  He  is  the  author 
of  at  least  thirty-six.  The  translations  from  Villon,  Frois- 
sart,  Marot,  La  Fontaine,  and  from  Banville,  together  with 
his  own  words  in  the  letter  sent  to  the  present  writer  in 
1911,  point  to  the  influences  that  lead  to  his  adoption  of  the 
poem.  Lang's  translations  from  Villon  include  Of  Good 
Counsel,'^''  Arbor  AmoriSy^  Ballad  of  the  Gibbet,''^  and  the 
Ballade  of  Dead  Ladies,  which  follows^/  ^v>-^  ^xh»-o*t-'~-^ 

"Nay,  tell  me  now  in  what  strange  air 
The  Roman  Flora  dwells  to-day. 
Where  Archippiada  hides,  and  where 
Beautiful  Thais  has  passed  away? 
Whence  answers  Echo,  afield,  astray, 
By  mere  or  stream, — around,  below? 
Lovelier  she  than  a  woman  of  clay; 
Nay,  but  where  is  the  last  year's  snow? 

Where  is  wise  Heloi'se,  that  care 
Brought  on  Abeilard,  and  dismay? 
All  for  her  love  he  found  a  snare, 
A  maimed  poor  monk  in  orders  grey; 
And  Where's  the  Queen  who  willed  to  slay 
Buridan,  that  in  a  sack  must  go 
Afloat  down  Seine, — a  perilous  way — 
Nay,  but  where  is  the  last  year's  snow? 

Where's  that  White  Queen,  a  lily  rare. 
With  her  sweet  song,  the  Siren's  lay? 
Where's  Bertha  Broadfoot,  Beatrice  fair? 
Alys  and  Ermengarde,  where  are  they? 
Good  Joan,  whom  English  did  betray, 

77  A.  Lang,  Ballades  and  Verses  Vain  (New  York,  1884),  pp.  65-66. 

78  A.  Lang,  Ballades  and  Lyrics  of  Old  France  (Portland,  1898), 
pp.  4-5;  not  included  in  either  of  Longnon's  editions  of  Villon. 

70  A.  Lang,  Oyus  Cit.,  pp.  11-13;  also  translated  by  Payne  and 
Swinburne. 


THE  BALLADE  IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY  323 

In  Rouen  town,  and  burned  her?  No, 
Maiden  and  Queen,  no  man  may  say; 
Nay,  but  where  is  the  last  year's  snow? 

Envoy 

Prince,  all  this  week  thou  needst  not  pray, 
Nor  yet  this  year  the  thing  to  know. 
One  burden  answers,  ever  and  aye, 
'  Nay,  but  where  is  the  last  year's  snow? ' "®° 

For  purposes  of  comparison,  four  other  translations  of 
the  same  poem  are  given,  first,  an  anonymous  version,  pos- 
sibly by  Gary : 

"  Tell  me  where,  or  in  what  clime, 
Is  that  mistress  of  the  prime, 
Roman  Flora?  she  of  Greece, 
Thais?  or  that  maid  so  fond. 
That,  an  ye  shout  o'er  stream  or  pond. 
Answering  holdeth  not  her  peace? 
— Where  are  they? — Tell  me,  if  ye  know; 
What  is  become  of  last  year's  snow? 

Where  is  Heloise  the  wise. 
For  whom  Abelard  was  fain. 
Mangled  in  such  cruel  wise, 
To  turn  monk  instead  of  man? 
Where  the  Queen,  who  into  Seine 
Bade  them  cast  poor  Buridan? 
— Where  are  they? — Tell  me,  if  ye  know; 
What  is  come  of  last  year's  snow? 

The  Queen  that  was  as  lily  fair. 
Whose  songs  were  sweet  as  linnets'  are. 
Bertha,  or  she  who  govem'd  Maine? 
Alice,  Beatrix,  or  Joan, 
That  good  damsel  of  Lorraine, 

80  A.  Lang,  Ballades  in  Blue  China  (London,  1888),  p.  57. 


324  THE  BALLADE 

Whom  the  English  burnt  at  Roan? 

— Where  are  they? — Tell  me,  if  ye  know; 

What  is  come  of  last  year's  snow? 

Prince,  question  by  the  month  or  year; 
The  burden  of  my  song  is  here: 
— ^Where  are  they  ? — Tell  me,  if  ye  know ; 
What  is  come  of  last  year's  snow?  "®^ 

Miss  Costello's  simple  and  incomplete  version  is  as 
follows : 

"  Tell  me  to  what  region  flown 
Is  Flora  the  fair  Roman  gone? 
Where  lovely  Thais'  hiding-place, 
Her  sister  in  each  charm  and  grace? 
Echo — let  thy  voice  awake. 
Over  river,  stream,  and  lake: 
Answer,  where  does  beauty  go? 
Where  is  fled  the  south  wind's  snow? 

'Where  is  Eloi'se  the  wise. 
For  whose  two  bewitching  eyes 
Hapless  Abeillard  was  doom'd. 
In  his  cell  to  live  entomb'd? 
Where  the  Queen,  her  love  who  gave. 
Cast  in  Seine  a  watery  grave? 
Where  each  lovely  cause  of  woe? 
Where  is  fled  the  south  wind's  snow? 

Where  thy  voice,  oh  regal  fair, 
Sweet  as  is  the  lark's  in  air? 

»i  London  Magazine  (October,  1823),  p.  437.  My  attention  was 
first  called  to  this  version  by  Frangois  Villon  en  Angleterre  par  H. 
Vigier  (Revue  Germanique,  Paris,  July-August,  1913),  in  which  this 
translation  is  given  to  Gary  of  Dante  fame.  I  am,  therefore,  in- 
debted to  Vigier  for  my  knowledge  of  the  ballade  printed  above, 
although  the  present  chapter  had  been  completed  in  every  other 
respect  before  his  article  appeared. 


THE  BALLADE  IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY  325 

Where  is  Bertha?    Alix?— she 
Who  le  Mayne  held  gallantly? 
Where  is  Joan,  whom  English  flame 
Gave,  at  Rouen,  death  and  fame? 
Where  are  all? — does  any  know? 
Where  is  fled  the  south  wind's  snow  ?  "^^ 

Here  is  Payne 's  labored  and  literal  translation : 

"  Tell  me  where,  in  what  land  of  shade. 
Bides  fair  Flora  of  Rome,  and  where 

Are  Thai's  and  Archipiade, 

Cousins-german  of  beauty  rare. 
And  Echo,  more  than  mortal  fair, 

That,  when  one  calls  by  river-flow 
Or  marish,  answers  out  of  the  air? 

But  what  is  become  of  last  year's  snow? 

Where  did  the  leam'd  Heloisa  vade, 

For  whose  sake  Abelard  might  not  spare 
(Such  dole  for  love  on  him  was  laid) 

Manhood  to  lose  and  a  cowl  to  wear? 

And  where  is  the  queen  who  willed  whilere 
That  Buridan,  tied  in  a  sack  should  go 

Floating  down  Seine  from  the  turret-stair? 
But  what  is  become  of  last  year's  snow? 

Blanche,  too,  the  lily-white  queen,  that  made 
Sweet  music  as  if  she  a  siren  were; 

Broad-foot  Bertha;  and  Joan  the  maid. 
The  good  Lorrainer,  the  English  bare 
Captive  to  Rouen  and  burned  her  there ; 

Beatrix,  Eremburge,  Alys — lo! 

Where  are  they,  Virgin  debonair? 

But  what  is  become  of  last  year's  snow? 

82  Louisa  S.   Costello,  Specimens  of  the  Early  Poetry  of  France 
(London,  1835),  p.  161. 


326  THE  BALLADE 


Envoi 


Prince,  you  may  question  how  they  fare 
This  week,  or  liefer  this  year,  I  trow; 

Still  shall  the  answer  this  burden  bear, 
But  what  is  become  of  last  year's  snow?  "^^ 

Finally  there  is  the  inspired  poem  by  Rossetti,  which, 
albeit  at  the  expense  of  the  form,  makes  the  spirit  of  the 
original  live  again: 

"  Tell  me  now  in  what  hidden  way  is 

Lady  Flora  the  lovely  Roman? 
Where's  Hipparchia,  and  where  is  Thais, 

Neither  of  them  the  fairer  woman? 

Where  is  Echo,  beheld  of  no  man, 
Only  heard  on  river  and  mere, — 

She  whose  beauty  was  more  than  human?  .  .  . 
But  where  are  the  snows  of  yester-year? 

Where's  Heloi'se,  the  learned  nun. 

For  whose  sake  Abeillard,  I  ween, 
Lost  manhood  and  put  priesthood  on? 

(From  love  he  won  such  dule  and  teen!) 

And  where,  I  pray  you,  is  the  Queen 
Who  willed  that  Buridan  should  steer 

Sewed  in  a  sack's  mouth  down  the  Seine?  .  .  . 
But  where  are  the  snows  of  yester-year? 

White  Queen  Blanche,  like  a  queen  of  lilies, 

With  a  voice  like  any  mermaiden, — 
Bertha  Broadfoot,  Beatrice,  Alice, 

And  Erraengarde  the  Lady  of  Maine, — 

And  that  good  Joan  whom  Englishmen 
At  Rouen  doomed  and  burnt  her  there, — 

Mother  of  God,  where  are  they  then?  .  .  . 
But  where  are  the  snows  of  yester-year? 

83  John  Payne,  The  Poems  of  Master  Frangois  Villon  of  Paris  (Lon- 
don, 1892),  p.  33. 


THE  BALLADE  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  327 

Nay,  never  ask  this  week,  fair  lord, 
Where  they  are  gone,  nor  yet  this  year, 

Except  with  this  for  an  overword, — 

But  where  are  the  snows  of  yester-year?"^* 

Lang  translated,  also,  Villon's  Ballad  of  the  Gibbet,  as 
did  both  Swinburne  and  Payne  too.  The  third  stanza  of 
Villon's  ballade,  the  hardest  of  the  three  to  translate  and 
therefore  the  best  test  of  the  poeti<*  quality  of  the  transla- 
tor, is  here  given,  reprinted  from  all  these  versions : 

"  We  are  whiles  scoured  and  soddened  of  the  rain 

And  whiles  burnt  up  and  blackened  of  the  sun : 
Corbies  and  pyets  have  our  eyes  out-ta'en 

And  plucked  our  beards  and  hair  out,  one  by  one. 

Whether  by  night  or  day,  rest  have  we  none : 
Now  here,  now  there,  as  the  wind  shifts  its  stead. 
We  swing  and  creak  and  rattle  overhead. 

No  thimble  dented  like  our  bird-pecked  face. 
Brothers,  have  heed  and  shun  the  life  we  led : 

The  rather  pray,  God  grant  us  of  His  s^race !  "^^ 

"  The  rain  has  washed  and  laundered  us  all  five, 
And  the  sun  dried  and  blackened;  yea,  perdie. 
Ravens  and  pies  with  beaks  that  rend  and  rive 
Have  dug  our  eyes  out,  and  plucked  off  for  fee 
Our  beards  and  eyebrows ;  never  are  we  free. 
Not  once,  to  rest ;  but  here  and  there  still  speed, 
Drive  at  its  wild  will  by  the  wind^s  change  led. 
More  pecked  of  birds  than  fruits  on  garden-wall ; 
Men,  for  God's  love,  let  no  gibe  here  be  said. 
But  pray  to  God  that  he  forgive  us  all."^® 

84  D.  G.  Eossetti,  Poetical  WorTc  (Boston,  1899),  Vol.  I,  p.  237. 
Cf.  The  Poems  of  Frangois  Villon.  Translated  by  H.  De  Vera  Stac- 
poole  (London,  1913),  p.  20. 

85  John  Payne,  The  Poems  of  Master  Frangois  Villon  of  Paris 
(London,  1892),  p.  115. 

86  A.  C.  Swinburne,  Poems  (Philadelphia,  no  date),  p.  266.  Bes- 
ant's  prose  version  of  this  same  ballade  has  been  referred  to  earlier 
in  this  chapter. 


328  THE  BALLADE 

"  The  rain  out  of  heaven  has  washed  us  clean, 

The  sun  has  scorched  us  black  and  bare, 
Ravens  and  rooks  have  pecked  at  our  eyne, 

And  feathered  their  nests  with  our  beards  and  hair. 

Round  are  we  tossed  and  here  and  there. 
This  way  and  that,  at  the  wild  wind^s  will. 
Never  a  moment  my  body  is  still; 

Birds  they  are  busy  about  my  face. 
Live  not  as  we,  nor  fare  as  we  fare; 

Pray  God  pardon  us  out  of  His  grace."®^ 

Payne's  lines  are  marked  by  archaisms,  by  difficult 
figures,  and  by  a  very  perceptible  roughness  of  metre. 
Swinburne's  rendering  lacks  force.  But  Lang's  comes 
nearest  to  the  despair  and  sweetness,  to  the  grim  music  of 
the  French.  Lang,  to  make  no  further  mention  of  his  other 
translations,  chose  to  translate  three  of  Banville's  ballades: 
Sur  les  Hotes  Mysterieux  de  la  Foret,^^  Aux  Enfants  Per- 
dus^^  and  Ballade  des  Pendus  from  Gringoire.^^  His  essay 
on  Theodore  de  Banville  sums  up  the  case  for  French  fixed 
forms  in  English  poetry :  "  It  may  be  worth  while  to  quote 
his  [Banville's]  testimony  as  to  the  merit  of  these  modes  of 
expression.  *  This  cluster  of  forms  is  one  of  our  most  prec- 
ious treasures,  for  each  of  them  forms  a  rhythmic  whole, 
complete  and  perfect,  while  at  the  same  time  they  all  possess 
the  fresh  and  unconscious  grace  which  marks  the  produc- 
tions of  primitive  times.'  Now  there  is  some  truth  in  his 
criticism;  for  it  is  a  mark  of  man's  early  ingenuity,  in 
many  arts,  to  seek  complexity  (when  you  would  expect 
simplicity),  and  yet  to  lend  to  that  complexity  an  infantine 
naturalness.    One  can  see  this  phenomenon  in  early  decora- 

87  A.  Lang,  Ballads  and  Lyrics  of  Old  France  (Portland,  1898), p.  6. 
Cf.  H.  De  Vera  Stacpoole,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  18. 

88  A.  Lang,  Ballades  in  Blue  China  (London,  1888),  p.  24. 

89  A.  Lang,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  31. 

»o  Gleeson  White,  Ballades  and  Eondeaus  (London,  1887),  p.  24. 


THE   BALLADE  IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY  329 

tive  art,  and  in  early  law  and  custom,  and  even  in  the  com- 
plicated structure  of  primitive  languages.  Now,  just  as 
early,  and  even  savage,  races  are  our  masters  in  the  decora- 
tive use  of  color  and  of  carving,  so  the  nameless  master- 
singers  of  ancient  France  may  be  our  teachers  in  decorative 
poetry,  the  poetry  some  call  vers  de  societe.  Whether  it  is 
possible  to  go  beyond  this,  and  adapt  the  old  French  forms 
to  serious  modern  poetry,  it  is  not  for  anyone  but  time  to 
decide.  In  this  matter,  as  in  greater  affairs,  securus  judical 
orhis  terrarum!  For  my  own  part  I  scarcely  believe  that 
the  revival  would  serve  the  nobler  ends  of  English  poetry.  "^^ 
Lang's  ballades f  the  untranslated,  original  ones,  are,  as 
his  theories  would  lead  one  to  suppose,  light  in  theme  and 
conventional.  There  is  a  Valentine  in  Form  of  Ballade,^ 
like  so  many  of  the  fifteenth  century  French  poems ;  there  is 
the  Ballade  of  Queen  Anne,^^  a  strange  mingling  of  medieval 
verse  form  and  Augustan  manners.  More  up-to-date  is  the 
subject  matter  of  the  gay  Ballade  of  the  Girt  on  Girl.^* 
In  the  Ballade  of  Old  Plays,^^  dedicated  appropriately  to 
Brander  Matthews,  the  first  of  the  three  stanzas  represents 
Le  Cour,  the  second,  La  Comedie,  and  the  third.  La  Ville; 
this  ballade  was  called  forth  by  an  edition  of  Moliere  pub- 
lished in  Paris  in  1667.  The  ''ubi  sunt"  motif  appears  in 
the  Ballade  of  Literary  Fame^^  and  also  in  the  Ballade  of 
Dead  Cities.  This  last,  dedicated  to  E.  W.  Gosse,  was  an 
answer  to  that  writer's  Ballad  of  Dead  Cities  written  the 
year  before  (1879).  Both  ballades  show  clever  manipula- 
tion of  proper  names  and  ingenuity  of  rime-scheme.  The 
first  stanzas  and  envoys  of  both  are  quoted.  Andrew 
Lang's  is: 

91  A.  Lang,  Essays  in  Little  (New  York,  1891),  p.  74. 

92  A.  Lang,  Ballades  in  Blue  China  (London,  1888),  p.  63. 

93  A.  Lang,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  77. 

9*  A.  Lang,  Ehymes  a  La  Mode  (London,  1887),  p.  43. 

95  A.  Lang,  Ballades  and  Verses  Vain  (New  York,  1884),  p.  19. 

96  A.  Lang,  Ehymes  a  La  Mode  (London,  1887),  p.  85. 


330  THE   BALLADE 

"The  dust  of  Carthage  and  the  dust 
Of  Babel  on  the  desert  wold, 
The  loves  of  Corinth,  and  the  lust, 
Orchomenos  increased  with  gold; 
The  tower  of  Jason,  over-bold. 
And  Cherson,  smitten  in  her  prime — 
What  are  they  but  a  dream  half -told? 
Where  are  the  cities  of  old  time  ? 


Envoy 

Prince,  all  thy  towns  and  cities  must 
Decay  as  these,  till  all  their  crime, 
And  mirth,  and  wealth,  and  toil,  are  thrust 
Where  are  the  cities  of  old  time  "  f^ 

and  Gosse's,  that  apparently  provoked  the  contest: 

"  Where  are  the  cities  of  the  plain  ? 

And  where  the  shrines  of  rapt  Bethel? 
And  Calah  built  of  Tubal-Cain? 

And  Shinar  whence  King  Amraphel 

Came  out  in  arms,  and  fought,  and  fell, 
Decoyed  into  the  pits  of  slime 

By  Sidim,  and  sent  sheer  to  hell ; 
Where  are  the  cities  of  old  time? 


Envoy 

Prince,  with  a  dolorous,  ceaseless  knell 
Above  their  wasted  toil  and  crime 

The  waters  of  oblivion  swell: 
Where  are  the  cities  of  old  time?"®® 

Edmund  Gosse,   in  the  article  on  the  Ballade  in  the 
eleventh  edition  of  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  says  of 

97  A.  Lang,  Ballades  in  Blue  China  (London,  1888),  p.  40. 

98  E.  W.  Gosse,  New  Poems  (London,  1879),  p.  164. 


THE  BALLADE  IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY  331 

the  possibilities  of  the  form:  ''With  the  exception  of  the 
sonnet,  the  ballade  is  the  noblest  of  the  artificial  forms  of 
verse  cultivated  in  English  literature.  It  lends  itself 
equally  well  to  pathos  and  to  mockery,  and  in  the  hands  of 
a  competent  poet  produces  an  effect  which  is  rich  in  melody 
without  seeming  fantastic  or  artificial. ' ' 

Alfred  Noyes,  writing  recently^^  of  Gosse's  own  poetry, 
says  that  the  school  to  which  Gosse  belongs,  which  experi- 
mented with  the  French  forms,  ''permanently  raised  the 
standard  of  technique  in  English  verse.''  Of  the  influences 
that  moulded  this  school  Gosse  himself  has  written :  "It  is 
in  Theophile  Gautier  and  Theodore  de  Banville  that  our 
English  Parnassians  found  something  of  the  same  aesthetic 
stimulus  that  their  predecessors  of  the  fourteenth  century 
found  in  Guillaume  de  Machault  and  Eustache  Des- 
champs."^^^ 

Gosse 's  beautiful  ballade  tribute  "for  the  funeral  of  the 
last  of  the  Joyous  Poets,"  contains  much  valid  literary 
criticism,  as  the  first  stanza  and  envoy  show : 

"  One  ballade  more  before  we  say  good-night, 

0  dying  Muse,  one  mournful  ballade  more ! 
Then  let  the  new  men  fall  to  their  delight, 

The  Impressionist,  the  Decadent,  a  score 

Of  other  fresh  fanatics,  who  adore 
Quaint  demons,  and  disdain  thy  golden  shrine; 
Ah!  faded  goddess,  thou  wert  held  divine 

When  we  were  young  I    But  now  each  laurelled  head 
Has  fallen,  and  fallen  the  ancient  glorious  line; 

The  last  is  gone,  since  Banville  too  is  dead. 


99  Alfred  Noyes,  The  Poems  of  Edmund  Gosse,  Fortnightly  Beview, 
August,  1912. 

100  E.  Gosse,  French  Profiles  (New  York,  1905),  p.  362. 


332  THE  BALLADE 

Envoi 

Prince-Jeweller,  whose  facet-rhymes  combine 
All  hues  that  glow,  all  rays  that  shift  and  shine, 

Farewell !  thy  song  is  sung,  thy  splendour  fled ! 
No  bards  to  Aganippe's  wave  incline; 

The  last  is  gone,  since  Banville  too  is  dead."^*^^ 

Swinburne  also  wrote  two  poems  in  memory  of  the  genius 
of  the  nineteenth  century  ballade,  Theodore  de  Banville. 
In  the  French  lines  Au  Tombeau  de  Banville  occurs  the 
phrase,  ^*poete  a  la  bouche  de  miel,"^^^  by  which  the  Eng- 
lish poet  described  the  author  of  the  Trente-six  Ballades 
Joyeuses,  Banville  is  celebrated  again  by  Swinburne  in 
the  Ballad  of  Melicertes,  where  he  is  addressed  as, 

"  Prince  of  song  more  sweet  than  honey,  lyric  lord. 
Not  thy  France  here  only  mourns  a  light  adored, 

One  whose  love-lit  fame  the  world  inheriteth. 
Strangers,  too,  now  brethren,  hail  with  heart's  accord 

Life  so  sweet  as  this  that  dies  and  casts  off  death.''^^' 

The  same  poet  has  a  ballade  to  Villon,  also  with  a  refrain, 
** Villon,  our  sad  bad  glad  mad  brother's  name,''^®*  sug- 
gestive of  Browning's  familiar  combination  of  adjectives. 
Swinburne  turned  eight  of  Villon's  ballades  into  English.^"^ 
The  same  luscious  quality  that  characterizes  Swinburne's 

101  E.  W.  Gosse,  In  Busset  and  Silver  (London,  1894),  p.  93. 

102  A.  C.  Swinburne,  Poems  (Philadelphia,  no  date),  p.  623. 

103  A.  C.  Swinburne,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  623. 

104  A.  C.  Swinburne,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  245. 

105  One  has  been  mentioned  above.  The  other  seven,  found  on  the 
following  pages  of  the  edition  noted  above,  261,  262,  262,  263,  263, 
264,  265,  are:  A  Double  Ballad  of  Good  Counsel,  Ballad  of  the  Lords 
of  Old  Time,  Ballad  of  the  Women  of  Paris,  Ballad  Written  for  a 
Bridegroom,  Ballad  Against  the  Enemies  of  France,  The  Dispute 
of  the  Heart  and  Body  of  Frangois  Villon,  and  Epistle  in  Form  of  a 
Ballad  to  his  Friends. 


THE   BALLADE  IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY  333 

other  poetry  likewise  pervades  his  ballades.  The  music  of 
the  first  stanza  and  envoy  of  A  Ballad  of  Dreamland  is 
unique  in  English  ballade  literature: 

"  I  hid  my  heart  in  a  nest  of  roses, 

Out  of  the  sun's  way,  hidden  apart; 
In  a  softer  bed  than  the  soft  white  snow's  is, 

Under  the  roses  I  hid  my  heart. 

Why  would  it  sleep  not,  why  should  it  start. 
When  never  a  leaf  of  the  rose-tree  stirred"? 

What  made  sleep  flutter  his  wings  and  part? 
Only  the  song  of  a  secret  bird. 


Envoi 

In  the  world  of  dreams  I  have  chosen  my  part. 

To  sleep  for  a  season  and  have  no  word 
Of  true  love's  truth  or  of  light  love's  art, 

Only  the  song  of  a  secret  bird."^*^^ 

The  use  of  anapaests  is  especially  fine  in  these  verses; 
but  in  the  Ballad  at  Parting,  in  which  the  line  is  much 
longer,  there  is  that  sterner  kind  of  music  which  the  two- 
syllable  foot  alone  is  capable  of  producing  in  English : 

"  Sea  to  sea  that  clasps  and  fosters  England,  uttering  evermore 
Song  eteme  and  praise  immortal  of  the  indomitable  shore. 
Lifts  aloud  her  constant  heart  up,  south  to  north  and  east  to 

west. 
Here  in  speech  that  shames  all  music,  there  in  thunder-throated 

roar. 
Chiming  concord  out  of  discord,  waking  rapture  out  of  rest. 
All  her  ways  are  lovely,  all  her  works  and  symbols  are  divine, 
Yet  shall  man  love  best  what  first  bade  leap  his  heart  and  bend 

his  knee; 
Yet  where  first  his  whole  soul  worshipped  shall  his  soul  set  up 

his  shrine: 

106  A.  C.  Swinburne,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  245. 


334:  THE  BALLADE 

Nor  may  love  not  know  the  lovelier,  fair  as  both  beheld  may  be, 
Here  the  limitless  north-eastern,  there  the  strait  south-western 
sea."io^ 

Another  ballade  contains  Swinburne's  appeal  to  Chris- 
tina Rossetti  to  continue  her  writing: 

"  Blithe  verse  made  all  the  dim  sense  clear 

That  smiles  of  babbling  babes  conceal : 
Prayer's  perfect  heart  spake  here :  and  here 

Rose  notes  of  blameless  woe  and  weal, 

More  soft  than  this  poor  song's  appeal. 
Where  orchards  bask,  where  cornfields  wave. 
They  dropped  like  rains  that  cleanse  and  lave, 

And  scattered  all  the  year  along. 
Like  dewfall  on  an  April  grave. 

Sweet  water  from  the  well  of  song. 

Ballad,  go  bear  our  prayer,  and  crave 
Pardon,  because  thy  lowlier  stave 

Can  do  this  plea  no  right  but  wrong. 
Ask  naught  beside  thy  pardon,  save 

Sweet  water  from  the  well  of  song."^^^ 

Henley  belongs  with  Dobson,  Gosse,  Lang,  and  Swinburne 
in  the  history  of  the  hallade.  He,  too,  believed  in  the  form, 
and  experimented  not  only  with  the  simple  hallade,  but 
with  the  double  hallade  and  with  the  hallade  of  two  re- 
frains. His  Ballade  of  Truisms  is  comparable  to  the  old 
French  type  of  sententious  hallade: 

"  Gold  or  silver  every  day, 

Dies  to  grey. 
There  are  knots  in  every  skein. 
Hours  of  work  and  hours  of  play 

Fade  away 

107  A.  C.  Swinburne,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  570. 

108  A.  C.  Swinburne,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  558. 


THE  BALLADE  IN  THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY          335  , 

Into  one  immense  Inane.  j 

Shadow  and  substance,  chaff  and  grain,  j 

Are  as  vain  j 

As  the  foam  or  as  the  spray.  ' 

Life  goes  crooning,  faint  and  fair —  j 

One  refrain —  | 
'If  it  could  be  always  May.'"^*'® 

He  has  also  tried  his  hand  at  the  *'ubi  sunt"  theme  in 

the  Ballade  of  Dead  Actors:  ' 

"  Where  are  the  passions  they  essayed,  ^ 
And  where  the  tears  they  made  to  flow? 

Where  the  wild  humours  they  portrayed  i 

For  laughing  worlds  to  see  and  know?  i 

Othello's  wrath  and  Juliet's  woe?  \ 

Sir  Peter's  whims  and  Timon's  gall?  \ 

And  Millamant  and  Romeo?  ! 

Into  the  night  go  one  and  all.  i 


Envoy 

Prince,  in  one  common  overthrow 
The  Hero  tumbles  with  the  Thrall : 
As  dust  that  drives,  as  straws  that  blow, 
Into  the  night  go  one  and  all."^^^ 

109  W.  E.  Henley,  London  Voluntaries  and  Other  Poems  (Portland, 
1910),  p.  45. 

110  W.  E.  Henley,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  37.    As  A.  M.  Moore's  burlesque 
has  it: 

**In  Ballades  things  always  contrive  to  get  lost, 

And  Echo  is  constantly  asking  where 
Are  last  year's  roses  and  last  year's  frost? 

And  where  are  the  fashions  we  used  to  wear? 

And  what  is  a  *  gentleman, '  what  is  a  'player?' 
Irrelevant  questions  I  like  to  ask: 

Can  you  reap  the  tret  as  well  as  the  tare? 
And  who  was  the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask? 


336  THE  BALLADE 

In  America,  Brander  Matthews,  both  by  his  writings  on  I 

the  theory  of  versification  and  by  his  own  experiments,  has  ] 
done  much  to  develop  the  ballade  and  to  cultivate  a  taste 

for  this  special  form.     In  his  best  vein  is  the  Ballade  of  \ 

Adaptation:  i 

"  The  native  drama's  sick  and  dying,  ^ 

So  say  the  cynic  critic  crew:  ] 

The  native  dramatist  is  crying —  i 

*  Bring  me  the  paste !    Bring  me  the  glue !  ] 

Bring  me  the  pen,  and  scissors,  too!  ' 

Bring  me  the  works  of  E.  Augier!  . 

Bring  me  the  works  of  V.  Sardou!  I 

I  am  the  man  to  write  a  play ! '  ) 

] 

What  has  became  of  the  ring  I  tossed  | 

In  the  lap  of  my  mistress,  false  and  fair?  ^ 

Her  grave  is  green  and  her  tombstone  mossed;  j 

But  who  is  to  be  the  next  Lord  Mayor,  ' 
And  where  is  King  William  of  Leicester  Square? 

And  who  has  emptied  my  hunting  flask?  i 

And  who  is  possessed  of  Stella's  hair?  i 

And  who  was  the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask?  ^ 

i 

And  what  has  become  of  the  knee  I  crossed, 

And  the  rod,  and  the  child  they  would  not  spare! 

And  what  will  a  dozen  herring  cost 

When  herring  are  sold  at  threehalfpence  a  pair —  j 

And  what  in  the  world  is  the  Golden  Stair?  ] 

Did  Diogenes  die  in  a  tub  or  a  cask,  ' 

Like  Clarence  for  love  of  liquor  there? 

And  who  was  the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask?  I 

Envoy 

Poets,  your  readers  have  much  to  bear,  ■ 

For  Ballade-makiug  is  no  great  task. 
If  you  do  not  remember,  I  don't  much  care 

Who  was  the  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask. ' ' 

(Qleeson  White,  Ballades  and  Boundeaus,  London,  1887,  p.  289.)  i 


THE   BALLADE  IN   THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY  337 

For  want  of  plays  the  stage  is  sighing, 

Such  is  the  song  the  wide  world  through: 
The  native  dramatist  is  crying — 

'Behold  the  comedies  I  brew! 

Behold  my  dramas  not  a  few ! 
On  German  farces  I  can  prey, 

And  English  novels  I  can  hew: 
1  am  the  man  to  write  a  play ! ' 

There  is,  indeed,  no  use  denying 

That  fashion's  turned  from  old  to  new: 
The  native  dramatist  is  crying — 

'Moliere,  good-bye!     Shakespeare  adieu! 

I  do  not  think  so  much  of  you. 
Although  not  bad,  you've  had  your  day, 

And  for  the  present  you  won't  do. 
I  am  the  man  to  write  a  play ! ' 

Envoi 

Prince  of  the  stage,  don't  miss  the  cue, 

A  native  dramatist,  I  say 
To  every  cynic  critic,  *  Pooh ! 

I  am  the  man  to  write  a  play ! '  "^^^ 

Frank  Dempster  Sherman's  To  Austin  Dohson  shows  a 
charmingly  facile  use  of  the  form : 

"From  the  sunny  climes  of  France, 

Flying  to  the  west, 
Came  a  flock  of  birds  by  chance, 

There  to  sing  and  rest: 
Of  some  secrets  deep  in  quest, — 

Justice  for  their  wrongs, — 
Seeking  one  to  shield  their  heart, 

One  to  write  their  songs. 

iiiGleeson  White,  Ballades  and  Bondeaus  (London,  1887),  p.  38. 
23 


338  THE   BALLADE 

Melodies  of  old  romance, 

Joy  and  gentle  jest, 
Note  that  made  the  dull  heart  dance 

With  a  merry  zest; — 
Maids  in  matchless  beauty  drest, 

Youths  in  happy  throngs; — 
There  they  sang  to  tempt  and  test 

One  to  write  their  songs. 

In  old  London's  wide  expanse 

Built  each  feathered  guest, — 
Man's  small  pleasure  to  enhance, 

Singing  him  to  rest, — 
Came,  and  tenderly  confessed, 

Perched  on  leafy  prongs, 
Life  were  sweet  if  they  possessed 

One  to  write  their  songs. 

Envoy 

Austin,  it  was  you  they  blest : 

Fame  to  you  belongs! 
Time  has  proven  you're  the  best 

One  to  write  their  songs !  ""2 

Scarcely  a  week  passes  without  the  publication  of  hal- 
lades  in  both  English  and  American  newspapers.  These 
journalistic  ballades,  often  topical  in  character,  are  usually 
of  no  real  poetic  value.  The  bad  sonnets  that  are  written 
are  likely  to  be  either  sentimental  or  lugubrious  in  tone; 
the  inferior  hallade,  on  the  other  hand,  is  frequently  either 
clownish  or  banal,  though,  of  course,  there  are  still  pub- 
lished occasionally  in  magazines  and  collections  new  bal- 
lades of  genuine  poetic  worth. 

If  Villon  were  to  revisit  Paris  for  the  purpose  of  scan- 
ning the  literature  produced  by  the  French  in  the  century 

112  F.  D.  Sherman,  Madrigals  and  Catches  (New  York,  1887),  p.  138. 


THE  BALLADE  IN   THE  NINETEENTH   CENTURY  339 

just  past,  he  would  find  comparatively  few  specimens  of 
his  favorite  form,  and  these  only  after  the  year  1856.  Not 
only  would  he  perceive  that  the  custom  of  writing  ballades 
had  decayed,  but  he  would,  if  he  were  sufficiently  interested 
in  the  matter,  discover  that  contemporary  French  writers 
on  poetic  theory  give  no  more  than  passing  mention  to  the 
ballade.  He  would,  doubtless,  recognize  in  Albert  Glatigny 
a  boon  companion,  and  he  would  commend  Theodore  de 
Banville  for  reviving  a  golden  tradition.  Should  Villon, 
drawn  by  the  homage  given  him  in  England  and  in  America, 
turn  his  attention  to  the  ballade  among  English  speaking 
peoples,  he  might  admire  the  intellectual  subtlety  and  the 
grace  of  form  of  the  ballade  written  in  English  in  the  nine- 
teenth century,  but  he  would  be  likely  to  display  some  in- 
dignation at  its  lack  of  sincerity  and  its  indifference  to  the 
very  substance  of  great  poetry,  deep  human  emotion. 


APPENDIX   I 

POETRY  COMPOSED  IN  THE  PUT 

A.    MS.  DOUCE  379 

Manuscript  Douce  379  contains  a  collection  of  poems  pre- 
sented to  **Maistre  Guillaume  Challenge,  chanoyne  de 
Rouen,  prince  du  Puy, ' '  upon  the  celebration  of  the  festival 
of  the  Conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary  at  Rouen,  14  Decem- 
ber, 1511.  The  prologue  begins :  *'Le  dimenche  quatoriesme 
jour  de  decembre,  Ian  mil  cinq  eens  et  unz  a  Rouen,  en 
leglise  paroisialle  de  sainct  Jehan,  maistre  Guillaume  Chal- 
lenge, chanoyne  de  Rouen  et  conseiller  du  roy  en  sa  cour  de 
le  Sehignier  comme  prince  tint  le  puy."  Beside  champs 
royaux  and  rondeaulz,  the  MS.  contains  ''les  ballades 
damours  pretendans  au  prix  du  disner  du  lendemain  dudit 
Puy,  sus  ce  reffrain.  'Vielx  amoureux  faictes  ung  Sault.* 
Christien  a  eu  le  prix  (fol.  86)."  From  the  collection  the 
following  are  given: 

f .  iser 

Gentilz  gallans  faictes  armee 
Pour  assailir  tous  faulx  viellars 
Lesquelz  ont  obtins  mainte  annee 
Le  prix  damours  par  leurs  vieulx  ars 
Dietes  hardiment  qu'ilz  sont  ars 
Et  leur  liurez  cruel  assault 
Escrivez  en  voz  estandars 
Vieulx  amoureux  faictes  vng  sault. 

IIz  ont  la  braye(?)  toute  vsee 
Et  nont  espieu  lance  ne  dardz 
Ilz  ne  sauvront  prendre  visee 
340 


POETRY   COMPOSED   IN   THE   PUY  341 

Ne  tyrer  vng  bon  coup  droit  de  arcz 
Ilz  sont  cassez,  lis  sont  couardz 
Chacun  le  cognoit  sans  deffault 
Tant  quon  leur  dit  en  toutes  pars 
Vieulx  amoureux  faictes  vng  sault. 

Ilz  ont  bien  en  mainte  assemblee 
Aucune  ffois  de  bons  hazardz 
Mais  quoy  cest  de  myct  et  demble 
Et  si  font  bien  souvent  des  ars 
Puis  il  me  souvient  de  buzars 
Quant  ilz  lievent  ces  veulx  en  hault 
Et  quon  crye  apres  telz  musars 
Vieulx  amoureux  faictes  vng  sault. 

Gentilz  amoureux  et  gaillardz 
A  quy  jamais  le  cueur  ne  fault 
Criez  tons  apres  ces  paillars 
Vieulx  amoureux  faictes  vng  sault.^ 

fol.  92' 

Les  dames  ont  veu  la  Requeste 
Quont  faict  sur  lamoureuse  enqueste 
Puis  vng  peu  noz  mygnons  de  court 
En  tant  que  touche  la  conqueste 
En  bien  du  proces  Tenqueste 
II  est  dist  par  arrest  de  court 
Bref  tons  ceulx  que  viellesse  oppresse 
Plus  n'auront  dame  ne  maistresse 
Quy  damours  les  prengne  en  sursault 
Ce  que  deffend  la  loy  expresse 
Vieulx  amoureux  faictes  vng  sault. 

1  For  help  in  deciphering  this  ballade  and  the  one  following,  I  am 
indebted  to  Professor  Eaymond  Weeks  of  Columbia  University,  and 
through  him  to  Professor  John  M.  Burnam  of  the  University  of 
Cincinnati. 


342  THE   BALLADE 

Or  se  vng  viellard  a  blanche  teste  ^ 

Enfant  les  groingz  ou  sen  tempeste  ; 

II  en  sera  tenu  plus  lourd 
Et  quy  pys  est  pour  vne  beste 

Raison  car  soubz  grise  barbeste  i 

En  amours  peu  de  plaisir  sourd  ' 

Pour  tant  luy  fault  faire  le  sourd  ] 

Car  vng  jeune  homme  a  hardiesse  | 

Cueur  joyaux  passe  temps  lyesse  j 

Dont  en  amours  tremble  et  tressault  j 

Vng  corquis  plein  de  jeunesse  | 

Et  toutesfoys  qua  vous  jeunesse  \ 

Vieulx  amonreux  faictes  un  sault.  j 

A  une  dame  ou  femme  honneste  \ 

Par  droit  vraye  amour  admonneste  i 

Damour  en  chambre  salle  ou  court  ] 

Vng  Rustre  quy  du  tout  sappreste 

Puis  que  ses  biens  luy  donne  ou  preste  i 

Destre  a  son  gre  tenu  de  court  1 

Et  viel  quy  viel  art  en  court  I 

Soubz  bourgoisie  et  gentillesse  j 

Desormais  fault  quun  gentil  laisse 
Faire  le  petit  soubressault 
Dont  homme  caduc  na  laddresse 
Veu  done  le  mestier  quon  vous  dresse 
Vieulx  amoureux  faictes  vng  sault. 

Prince  pourtant  que  le  has  blesse 
A  tel  quy  croUe  de  foiblesse 
Et  veult  prendre  femme  dassaut 
Quy  est  a  luy  trop  grant  simplesse 
Pour  monstrer  vng  tour  de  soupplesse 
Vieulx  amoureux  faictes  vng  sault. 

B.     BALADE  LATINE 

Tota  pulchra  es  amica 
Per  trinum  numen  celicum 


POETRY   COMPOSED   IN   THE   PUY  848 

Virgo  mater  &  unica  / 
Virus  non  gerens  antiquum/ 
Hoc  sacrum  refert  canticum/ 
Quod  macula  non  est  in  te 
Dicta  per  os  angelicum 
Flos  producens  fructum  vite. 

Virga  f ortis  mosaica  / 
Fontem  donans  salutificum 
Regna  celebrant  celiea/ 
Cuum  conceptum  pudicum; 
Per  quem  agmen  propheticum 
Jucunda  cecinit  mente 
Tu  das  rorem  vivisicum. 
Flos  producens  fructum  vite. 

0  flos  stirpe  Judaica 
Per  spiritum  davidicum 
Arte  conteris  bellica 
Aspidem  et  basilicum  / 
Tu  leonem  inimieum 
Et  drachonem  unicis  tute 
Morsum  tegis  veneficum/ 
Flos  producens  fructum  vite. 

0  levamen  deificum 
Confer  opem  cum  salute/ 
Serva  horum  monasticum 
Flos  producens  fructum  vite.* 
Dom  NicoUe  Lescarre^ 

^Palinods  Presentes  au  Puy  de  Bouen,  Becueil  de  Pierre  Vidoue 
(Precede  d'une  Introduction  par  E.  de  Eobillard  de  Beaurepaire), 
Eouen,  1897,  feuillet  LXVI-LXVII  of  reprint  of  Vidoue. 

5  Opus  at.,  p.  xix :  "  La  reputation  de  Nicolle  Lescarre  ^tait  d  'ail- 
leurs  si  bien  etablie  que  Pierre  Fabri  a  tenu  lui-meme  k  la  reconnaitre 
en  citant  dans  son  Grand  Art  de  Rhetorique,  a  titre  d  'exemple  deux  de 
ses  compositions:  un  chant  royal  et  une  ballade.^' 


344  THE  BALLADE 

C.    BALLADE 

Donee  au  Prince 

L'argument  est  pris  de  Valerius  Fla«eus  en  ses  Argonautes 
livre  second. 

Quittons,  0  divine  Uranie, 
Le  chant  doux  et  melodieux 
De  nostre  charmante  harmonie 
II  faut  d'un  ton  plus  furieux 
Estonner  les  moins  curieux, 
En  leur  representant  I'outrage 
Dont  fut  enfin  victorieux 
Le  Roy  seul  exempt  du  carnage. 

Quelle  horreur,  quelle  boucherie 
Dans  Lemnos  arreste  mes  yeux! 
Les  f emmes  pleins  de  furie 
Portent  le  massacre  en  tons  lieux : 
Leurs  fils,  leurs  maris,  leurs  ayeux 
Ne  peuvent  adoucir  leur  rage, 
Dont  I'excez  rendit  glorieux 
Le  Roy  seul  exempt  du  carnage. 

Hypsipile  en  cette  turie,     (furie?) 
'  Par  un  dessein  oflScieux 

Envers  son  pere  et  sa  patrie. 
Dedans  le  temple  de  ses  Dieux 
L'enferme,  et  d^un  oeil  gracieux 
Tasche  de  luy  donner  courage, 
Pour  conserver  au  gre  des  Cieux 
Le  Roy  seul  exempt  du  carnage. 

Envoy 

Ce  massacre  prodigieux 

Peint  le  pech6  oontagieux : 

La  Vierge  en  ce  commun  dommage, 


POETRY  COMPOSED  IN  THE  PUY  346 

Estant  parmy  les  vicieux 

Le  Roy  seul  exempt  du  carnage.® 

G.  de  Belleville. 

«  Becueil  des  ceuvres  qui  ont  remporte  les  prix  sur  le  puy  de  I  ^Im- 
maculee  Conception  de  la  Vierge,  en  Van  1644,  PresentSs  d  Mon- 
sieur de  la  Place  sieur  de  Saint  Etienne  AbhS  d*Eu,  Prince  du  Puy 
annee  present  (Rouen,  1644),  pp.  18-19. 


APPENDIX   II 

THE  SEHVENTOIS 

Stengel  writes  in  Groeber's  Grundriss,  Vol.  II,  p.  87: 
*'Das  franz.  Serventois  des  14.  u.  15.  Jhs.  hat  nur  den 
Namen  mit  der  provenz.  Dietungsart  gemeinsam;  denn  es 
ist  im  wesentlichen  nichts  als  ein  ref rainloser  C/mn^  royal.* ^ 
Stengel  might  further  have  added  that  the  Serventois  of 
this  period  was  designed  to  exalt  the  Virgin.  At  the 
outset  of  its  career  the  French  serventois  was  not  asso- 
ciated with  religion;  it  was  merely  one  of  the  poesies 
d'agrement.^  A  passage  in  Eustebeuf,  who  died  about 
1286,  has  been  cited^  as  containing  the  earliest  mention  of 
the  word  serventois  as  applied  to  religious  poetry. 

"  Et  mes  sires  Phelipes  et  li  bons  cuens  d'Artois, 
Et  li  cuens  de  Nevers,  qui  sont  preu  et  eortois, 
Refont  en  lor  venue  a  Dieu  biau  serventois/'^ 

The  serventois,  like  the  ballade^  copied  its  system  of  rimes 
from  the  secular  lyric  of  the  trouvere.  The  serventois  had 
no  refrain,  however,  and  had  always,  even  in  the  earliest 
specimens  that  we  know,  an  envoy.     Thirteenth  century 

1  From  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  a  few  French  serventois 
have  survived  that  are  like  the  Provencal  serventes  in  that  they  are 
satirical  and  political  in  tone  (See  A.  Scheler,  Trouveres  Beiges,  Vol. 
II,  p.  74),  but  the  French  serventois  of  the  later  Middle  Ages  are 
wholly  unlike  the  ProveuQal  poems  of  like  sounding  name. 

2  See  L.  E.  Kastner,  History  of  French  Versification  (Oxford, 
1903),  p.  74. 

3  See  A.  Kressner,  Eustebeufs  Gedichte  (Wolfenbiittel,  1885), 
p.  43. 

346 


THE  SERVENTOIS  347 

lyrics  other  than  serventois  display  the  envoy,  which  was 
addressed  to  the  judges  of  the  puy,  or  to  a  brother  poet,  or 
to  the  deity,  or  to  a  mistress.*  The  envoy  of  the  ser- 
ventois was,  we  may  suppose,  one  of  the  circumstances  that 
led  to  the  attachment  of  the  envoy  to  both  ballade  and  chant 
royal.  In  view  of  the  conceivable  relation  of  the  serventois 
to  the  ballade,  it  will  be  interesting  to  note  its  characteris- 
tic features,  and  some  of  the  poetic  theories  that  circulated 
in  regard  to  it.  An  example  of  the  serventois  is  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"  Quiconques  veult  en  haute  hounour  monter, 
Mettre  se  doit  a  la  Dame  servir 
En  qui  diex  voult  pour  le  monde  sauver 
D^umainne  char  sa  deite  couvrir 
Et  vint  chaiiis  aparoir  com  horns  morteuz. 

Che  doit  chacuns  savoir 
Car  en  es  flans  de  le  Vierge  Marie 
De  dens  nuef  mois  prist  char  et  sane  et  vie. 

Car  pour  ses  biens  a  tous  les  bons  moustrer 
Voult  diex  son  cors  en  la  vierge  nourrir; 
Vierge  au  conchoivre  et  Vierge  au  delivrer, 
Et  ce  ne  pot  ne  savoir  ne  veir 
Aucuns  pour  son  pooir 
Que  femme  ensi  peust  fruit  conchevoir 
Ki  ains  n'eust  d'omme  eu  compagnie 
Mais  Diex  por  ee  I'avoir  edefiie. 

Dont  doit  chascuns  si  loiaument  ouvrer 
K'il  puist  I'amour  la  Vierge  deservir, 
Qui  tous  nouz  puet  vei*s  celui  racorder 
Ki  pour  nous  voult  son  cors  en  trols  partir, 

*  H.  Guy,  Essai  sur  la  Vie  et  les  (Euvres  du  Trouvdre  Adan  de  la 
Bale  (Paris,  1898),  pp.  xliii-xlviii ;  and  A.  Jeanroy,  Les  Chan- 
sons Frangaises  Inedites  du  Manuscrit  de  Moddne,  Supplement  to  the 
Bevue  des  Langues  Bomanes,  1896. 


348  THE  BALLADE 

Sen  fist  en  chiex  remanoir  la  Deite.  ] 

Et  ehaiiis  recevoir  I'umanite.  \ 

Mort  en  crois  a  haschie,  ! 

Li  Saint  Espire  fut  la  tierche  partie.  j 

1 
Tant  vaut  amours,  che  puet — on  esprouver  i 

Ke  par  amouts  veut  diex  en  crois  morir; 

S'il  nous  ama  nous  le  devons  amer,  i 

Ne  nous  devons  point  de  li  retolir  I 

Quant  de  si  tres  chier  avoir  nous  racheta, 

Quant  il  nous  voult  ravoir 
Ke  de  son  cors  fut  la  debte  paYe 
Per  aquiter  tout  humaine  lignie.  j 

Cors  pour  les  cuers  en  tons  bien  doctriner 
Ki  de  vous  ont  vierge,  le  souvenir 

Bien  deust  avoir  le  cuer  amer  . 

Quant  vo  chier  fil  veistes  mort  souffrir  1 

Pour  nous  et  par  son  vouloir.  j 

Or  consentez  que  chascuns  son  devoir  1 

Fache  si  bien,  Vierge  mere  et  amie,  ; 

A  vos  douch  fil  k^ame  ne  soit  ne  soit  perie. 

Vierge  a  vous  pri  main  et  soir  ] 

Ke  nouv  veilliez  m^ame  ramentevoir  ! 

Au  destroit  jour  ou  elle  iert  mal  baillie  i 

Se  de  vous  n^a  anvers  vo  fil  aie."''  *°^  ®  ' 

I 

The  Miracles  de  Notre  Dame  abound  in  serventois  cou-  ' 

ronnes.  The  remarks  of  the  poetic  theorists  in  regard  to 
these  are  worth  noting.  Desehamps  in  L'Art  de  Dictier 
(1392)  says:^  i 

^^  Serventois   sont  faiz   de  cinq  couples   comme  les  chansons  | 

5  and  6  G.  A.  T.  H6cart,  Serventois  et  Sottes  Chansons  Couronnes  d  ■ 
Valenciennes  au  Xlle  et  XIII^  Siecles  (Paris,  1834),  p.  55.     This 

serventois  can  hardly  be  a  thirteenth  century  product.  ] 

7  Gaston  Paris  and  Ulysse  Robert,  Les  Miracles  de  Notre  Dame,  j 

SociStS  des  Anciens  Textes  Frangais  (Paris,  1899).  1 


THE  SERVENTOIS  349 

royaulx;  et  sont  communement  de  la  Vierge  Marie,  sur  la  Divinite ; 
et  nV  souloit  on  point  faire  de  refrain,  mais  a  present  on  les  y 
fait,  servens  comme  en  une  halade;  et  pour  ce  que  c'est  ouvrage 
qui  se  porte  au  Puis  d'amours,  et  que  nobles  hommes  n^ont  pas 
aeoustume  de  ce  faire,  n'en  faiz  cy  aucun  autre  exemple."® 

Other  poetic  treatises  either  ignore  the  refrain,  or  mention 
it  as  unnecessary.  LeGrand  in  Des  Eimes  (before  1405) 
declares : 

"  Apres,  en  franeoys  nous  trouvons  acuns  ditz  qui  sont  nommez 
serventois,  lesquelz,  come  dient  aucuns,  se  font  a  plaisir,  excepte 
que  I'en  doit  prendre  ung  certain  nombre  de  vers  tel  come  Fen 
veult,  mais  qu'ilz  soyent  d'une  longueur,  et  que  lung  ver  responde 
a  I'autre  en  bonne  ryme;  et  lors  on  doit  proceder  en  faisant 
autant  de  vers  [come  Fen  veult],  et  de  semblable  ryme.  Et  ainsi 
tousjours."® 

Les  Regies  de  la  Seconde  Bhetorique  (1411-1432)  reads: 

"  Ou  temps  du  dit  Machault  fut  Brisbarre,  de  Douay,  qui  fist 
le  livre  de  I'escolle  de  foy  et  le  Tresor  Nostre  Dame,  et  si  fist  le 
serventoys  de 

S 'Amours  n'estoit  plus  poissant,  que  Nature, 
No  foy  seroit  legiere  a  condempner/'^° 

Apropos  of  these  lines,  Langlois  says  in  a  footnote:  **Ce 
serventois  se  retrouve,  sans  nom  d'auteur,  sous  la  rubrique 
Serventois  de  Nostre  Dame,  dans  le  manuscrit  de  la  Bibl. 
Nat.  fr.  1543,  f.  99,  qui  est  de  la  premiere  partie  du  XIV* 
siecle ;  une  autre  piece  de  meme  taille,  sur  les  memes  rimes 

8  G.  Raynaud,  (Euvres  Completes  de  Eustache  Deschamps,  Societe 
des  Anciens  Textes  Frangais  (Paris,  1891),  Vol.  VII,  p.  281. 

9  E.  Langlois,  Becueil  d'Arts  de  Seconde  Eh4torique,  Collection  de 
Documents  Inedits  sur  VHistoire  de  France  (Paris,  1902),  p.  9. 

10  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  12. 


350  THE  BALLADE 

commencant  par  le  meme  vers,  se  trouve  dans  le  manuscrit 
de  la  Bibl.  Nat.,  fr.  2095,  f.  80  elle  €st  intitulee  Balade. 
Le  2®  vers  est: 

Dont  nos  venroit  la  cause  d'esperer. 

Enfin  le  Jardin  de  Plaisanee,  ed.  Verard,  en  donne  une 
troisieme,  ton  jours  snr  les  memes  rimes,  dont  voici  les  deux 
premiers  vers : 

Si  argent  n'estoit   plus   puissant   que  Nature, 
Ne  tout  le  sens  qu'elle  peut  doctriner. 

Ces  trois  pieces  ont  du  etre  ecrites  pour  le  meme  con- 
cours.''^^  .  .  .  ''La  taille  des  serventoys  est  ainsi  comme  il 
s'enssuit,  excepte  qu'il  convient  que  la  derraine  ligne  soit 
^feminine  et  de  11  silabes,  et  la  penultime  ligne  doit  estre 
'delO/'^ 

Baudet  Herenc  wrote  in  Le  Doctrinal  de  la  Seconde  Rheto- 
rique  (1432)  : 

"  Et  se  font  ces  serventois,  a  Lisle  en  Flandres,  le  premier 
dimanche  devant  1' Assumption  Nostre  Dame ;  et  doibvent  parler  de 
^Assumption  Nostre  Dame  et  de  Passion  Nostre  Seigneur."^^ 

Jean  Molinet:  L'Art  de  Bhetorique  (1493) : 

"  Les  serventois  sei^ent  pareillement  aux  puis  royaulx,  ausquelz 
il  y  a  certaines  regies  que  les  princes  desdid  puis  y  mettent,  affin 
de  constraindre  le  f  acteur  sans  trop  ouvrer  a  sa  plaisance.  Et  avient 

11  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  12,  note  5. 

12  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  26:  In  Note  1  on  this  page,  Langlois 
says  in  regard  to  the  definition  of  serventois:  "La  rSgle  peut  etre 
■speciale  k  quelque  pui. ' '  The  serventois  given  consists  of  five  stanzas 
riming  ababccddede  and  an  envoy  e  d  e  that  begins  with  the 
word  Princes. 

13  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit,  p.  170.  Ilerenc  gives  an  example  of  the 
serventois  a  five-stanza  poem;  the  rimes  of  each  stanza  are  a  b  a  b 
c  c  d  d  e  d  e,  and  the  rimes  of  the  envoy  are  d  e  d  e. 


THE  SERVENTOIS  351 

souvent  qu'il  prent  les  terminations  et  premieres  lignes  d'une 
amoureuse,  laquele  amoureuse  traitte  de  matiere  d'amours,  et  con- 
tient.  .V.  couples  et  I'envoy,  sans  reffrain,  mais  lesdis  couples  de 
pareille  consonance.  Et  les  dis  serventois  le  plus  sont  fais  a 
Fonneur  de  la  vierge  Marie  et  par  figure  de  la  Bible."^* 

The  serventois  was,  then,  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth 
centuries,  commonly  composed  in  the  puys  where  ballades 
and  chants  royaux  were  also  being  offered.  All  three  forms 
are  concluded  with  envoys.  At  an  earlier  period  than  the 
other  two  forms,  the  serventois,  as  is  shown  by  the  Valen- 
ciennes collection,  was  being  presented  in  the  puys.  For 
this  reason,  its  envoy  may  have  furnished  a  model  to  a  later 
generation  of  puy  poets  composing  ballades  and  chants 
royaux. 

1*  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  245.  The  example  that  follows  is  com- 
posed of  five  stanzas  and  envoy,  riming  ababceddede;  dede. 
Envoy  begins  with  '  *  Prince. ' ' 


APPENDIX  III 
THE  CHANT  ROYAL 

A  form  closely  related  to  the  ballade  also  developed  in 
the  puy, — the  chant  royal,  a  refrain  poem,  composed  of  five 
stanzas  and  an  envoy,  in  Which  the  same  rimes  are  continued, 
as  in  the  hallade.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  hallade  in  every  respect 
but  in  the  number  of  stanzas.  The  word  royal  in  this  con- 
nection seems  to  refer  to  the  fact  that  the  poem  was  com- 
posed for  rendering  before  a  prince  of  the  puy.  In  the 
statutes  of  the  English  puy,  the  phrase  chancon  reale 
occurs  five  times.  Whether  what  was  later  known  as  a 
chant  royal  was  referred  to  in  these  statutes  is  more  than 
doubtful.  But  the  statutes  go  to  show,  at  any  rate,  that  a 
song  composed  for  a  puy  presided  over  by  a  prince,  might 
well  be  described  as  *' royal."  The  passage  in  the  Liber 
Custumarum  is  plain. 

"  E  porceoque  la  f  este  roiale  du  pui  est  maintenue  e  etablie 
principaument  pur  un  chaunsoune  reale  coronner  de  ci  cum  ele 
est  par  chaunsoun  honore  et  enhaunsier  sont  tint  luy  gentil  com- 
paignoun  du  pui  par  dreite  raisoun  tenuz  des  chauncons  roiaus 
auancer  a  lur  pouir  et  especiaument  cele  qe  est  coronne  par  assent 
des  compaignouns  le  jour  de  la  graunt  feste  du  pui :  par  quei  il  est 
ici  puruu  en  droit  de  celes  chauncons  qe  chascun  prince  nouel  le 
jour  qil  portera  la  coronne  et  gouemera  la  feste  du  pui.  E  si 
tost  com  il  auera  fait  prendre  son  blasoun  de  ces  armes  en  la  sale 
ou  la  feste  du  pui  serra  tenue  qe  maintenaunt  face  atachee  de 
souz  son  blazon  de  chauncoun  de  estoit  coronnee  le  jour  qil  fur 
estu  nouel  prince,  apertement  et  droitement  escrite  e  saunz  de- 
faute.  Kar  nul  chantour  par  droit  ne  doit  chauncoun  reale  chaun- 
ter  ne  proffrir  a  la  feste  du  puy  desques  a  taunt  qil  veit  la  chaun- 

352 


THE  CHANT  ROYAL  353 

coun  coronnee  dreinement  en  Ian  prochainement  passe  devaunt 
honoure  a  son  droit  en  la  manere  auaundite."^ 

Unfortunately  none  of  the  lyrics  honored  in  the  English 
puy  seem  to  have  been  preserved  to  settle  the  question. 
Perhaps  some  day  they  may  come  to  light. 

The  following  diverse  explanations  are  given  of  the  term 
chant  royal.  L'lnfortune  in  L'Instructif  de  la  Seconde 
Rhetorique  (1500)  explained: 

"  Item  il  est  diet  champ  royal,  pource  que  de  toutes  especes  de 
rithme  c'est  la  plus  royalle,  noble,  ou  magistralle :  et  on  I'en  couche 
les  plus  graves  substances.  Parquoy  c^est  voluntiers  I'espece 
pratiquee  en  puy  la,  ou  en  pleine  audience,  comme  en  chant  de 
bataille  Fen  juge,  le  meilleur  est  qui  est  le  plus  digne  d'avoir  le 
prix  apres  que  Pen  a  bieu  batu  de  Tune  part  et  d'aultre." 

Sibilet  (1548)  wrote: 

"  Car  le  chant  royal  n'est  autre  chose  qu'une  balade  surmontant 
la  balade  comme  en  nombre  de  coupletz  et  en  gravite  de  matiere. 
Aussi  s'appelle  il  chant  royal  de  nom  plus  grave  ou  a  cause  de  sa 
grandeur  et  majeste  qu'il  n^appartient  estre  chante  que  devant  les 
roys,  ou  par  ce  que  veritablement  la  fin  du  chant  royal  n'est  autre 
que  de  chanter  les  louanges,  preeminences  et  dignities  des  doys 
tant  immortelz  que  mort^lz." 

An  early  use  of  the  exact  term  chant  royal  is  to  be  found 
in  Le  Bit  de  la  Panther e  d' Amours,  where  the  lover  says: 

"  Car  certes  moult  grant  joie  avroie. 
Douce  dame,  se  je  pooie 
Faire  chose  qui  vous  pleiist, 
Combien  que  couster  me  deiist. 
Fust  ce  du  corps,  fust  de  I'avoir; 
Ne  pour  mal  que  je  puisse  avoir 
Ne  ferai  plainte  ne  clamour; 

1  Folio  176.     See  also  f.  175'  and  f.  177\ 
24 


354  THE  BALLADE 

Ains  en  merci  vous  et  Amour, 
Quant  il  li  plest  et  li  agree 

De  vrai  cuer  entier  et  loial, 
S'en  dirai  en  cest  chant  royal  i^ 

Then  there  follows  a  five  stanza  poem  of  Adan  de  la  Hale 
which  is  not  a  cJiant  royal  in  the  later  sense  of  the  word,^ 
for  although  the  same  rimes  occur  in  every  stanza,  there  is 
no  refrain  and  no  envoy.  Here  again  the  significance  of 
the  adjective  royal,  taken  in  connection  with  the  fact  that 
Adan  was  a  member  of  the  puy  of  Arras,  is  clear.*  The 
chant  royal  without  refrain,  which,  was  exactly  like  the 
fourteenth  century  serventois,^  in  fact,  is  described  in  Les 
Regies  de  la  Seconde  Rhetorique  (1411-1432)  : 

"  Chans  royaux  pour  porter  aux  puis  de  Nostre  Dame  en  la 
ville  de  Dieppe  sur  la  mer,  et  non  ailleurs,  sont  de  5  couples  et  le 
Prince,  qui  est  appellez  FEnvoy.  Et  est  de  11  lignes,  chascune 
ligne  de  10  silabes  ou  masculin  et  de  11  ou  feminin."^ 

Then  follows  the  example,  a  chant  royal  of  ^ve  strophes  and 
envoy;  the  strophe  eleven  lines  in  length,  the  envoy,  five. 
The  rime-scheme  of  the  strophe  isababccddede;  the 
envoy  rimes  d  d  e  d  e.     The  chant  royal  given  shows  no 

2  H.  A.  Todd,  Le  Bit  de  la  PantMre  d' Amours,  par  Nicole  de 
Margival  (Paris,  1883),  p.  96. 

8  See  XII  in  Table  of  Adan  de  la  Hale 's  Chansons  in  H.  Guy,  Adan 
de  la  Hale  (Paris,  1898),  p.  580. 

*  Cf .  also  H.  A.  Todd,  Opus  Cit.,  11.  24^6  ff. 
'  V'  **Si  com  dist  Adam  de  la  Halle, 

V  ^\  Qui  onques  n'ot  pensee  male 

5  Vers  Amour,  ne  cuer  desloial, 

En  ce  ver  d  'un  sien  chant  royal. ' ' 
6  See  Appendix  II. 

«E.  Langlois,  Eecueil  d'Aris  de  Seconde  Eh^orique,  Collection 
de  Vocuments  InSdits  sur  VHistoire  de  France  (Paris,  1902),  p.  21. 


THE  CHANT  ROYAL  356 

refrain.  Its  subject  matter  is  religious,  dealing  with  the 
redemption.  I  quote  one  stanza  to  show  how  proper  names 
had  become  a  stylistic  feature  of  such  verse : 

"  Vierge  royaux,  turtre  delicieuse, 
Nous  devons  bien  vostre  venue  amer, 
Car  vostre  nativite  glorieuse 
Fist  aux  humains  paradis  recouvrer. 
De  vous  parloit  le  prophete  Ysaye, 
David,  Amos,  Abdias,  Jheremie, 
En  affermant,  sainte  vierge  prudente, 
Qu'Adam  et  sa  compaignie  dolente 
Raroit  des  cieux  par  vous  le  luminaire 
Ainsi  que  c'est  vraie  chose  evidente, 
Deffendez  nous  du  sathan  deputaire.''"^ 

Another  description  and  definition  of  the  Chant  royal 
which  differentiates  it  not  all  from  the  serventois  is  that 
given  by  Baudet  Herenc  in  Le  Doctrinal  de  la  Seconde 
Bhetorique  (1432)  : 

"  Cy  s'ensuit  la  forme  et  taille  d'ung  chant  royal,  qui  se  font  a 
Dieppe  en  Normandie;  et  s'appelle  chant  royal  pour  ce  que  I'on 
commence  et  fine  en  telle  maniere  que  I'on  veult  [absurd  notion] ; 
et  doibt  parler  de  la  Nativite  Nostre  Dame  et  de  la  Passion  Nostre 
Seigneur  et  de  FAssomption  Nostre  Dame."^ 

The  example  given  has  ^\e  stanzas  riming  a  b  a  b  c  c  d 
d  e  d  e  and  an  envoy  riming  d  d  e  d  e. 

An  earlier  authority,  however,  Deschamps,  in  his  L'Art 
de  Dictier  (1392),  gives  the  chant  royal  a  refrain.  He 
says: 

"Item  en  ladictet  ballade  a  Envoy.  Et  ne  les  soloit  on  point 
faire  anciennement  fors  es  Chancons  royauLx,  qui  estoient  de  cinq 

7  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  23. 

8  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  173. 


356                                                THE   BAL.LADE  ! 

1 

couples,  chascune  couple  de  .x.,  .xi.  or  .xij.  vers;  et  de  tant  se 

puelent  bien  faire,  et  non  pas  de  plus,  par  droicte  regie.     Et  | 

doivent  les  envois   d'icelles   chancons,   qui   se  commencent   par  ' 

Princes,  estre  de  cinq  vers  entez  par  eulx  aux  rimes  de  la  chancon  ' 

sans  rebrique;  c'est  assavoir  .ij.  vers  premiers,  et  puis  un  pareil  ! 

de  la  rebriche,  et  les  .ij.  autres  suyans  les  premier  deux,  concluans  j 

en  substance  I'effect  de  ladicte  chancon  et  servens  a  la  rebriche."*  | 

Molinet  in  the  L'Art  de  Bhetorique  cites  a  chant  royal  \ 

with  a  refrain  that  was  crowned  at  Amiens  in  1470.i<^  ' 

L'Infortune  in  L'lnstructif  de  Seconde  Bhetorique  ex-  \ 

emplifies  the  form  in  the  same  way :  I 

De  vndecimo  colore  rethorice  gallicane  sciz 
de  campis  realibus. 

Souefue  manne  de  distilation  '• 

Rassasiant  substancieusement 

Diffuse  par  fructification  \ 

De  minerue  scientifiquement  * 

Est  ou  verger  de  dame  rethoricque 

En  souefue  odeur  flaugrante  aromatique  \ 

Sur  pluseurs  fleurs  receuans  influence  i 

De  fronesis  de  tresnoble  science  ^ 

Espanissant  mainte  fleur  necte  et  pure  ' 

Mais  sur  toutes  de  tresnoble  assistence  \ 

Le  champ  royal  est  de  noble  faicture.  j 

Promotheus  par  constellation  I 
Souuent  transmet  delicieusement 

Dyaphanon  par  illustracion  J 

Pour  esclarcir  substancieusement  j 

Dong  transparant  ray  fulgent  &  celique  \ 

Procedant  sus  maint  support  auctentique  \ 

Qui  au  verger  predict  fait  residence  i 

Duquel  souuent  par  noble  prouidence  j 

»  G.  Raynaud,  CEuvres  Computes  de  Eustache  Deschamps,  SociStS  \ 

des  Anciens  Textes  Frangais  (Paris,  1891),  Vol.  VII,  p.  278.  \ 

10  E.  Langlois,  Opus  Cit.,  p.  242.  j 

1 


THE  CHANT  ROYAL                                        357  ! 

] 

Mainte  fleur  est  prodiucte  clere  &  pure  j 

Entre  quelles  de  plaisance  euidence  • 

Le  champ  royal  est  de  noble  f aicture.  \ 

\ 
Qui  nous  aprent  melodieusement 

Par  sa  franche  descrete  instruction  i 

A  bien  traieter  tragedieusement  ^ 

Nous  peult  noter  que  pour  faiz  de  cronique 

Ou  pour  autre  digne  forme  heroique  j 

Ou  doraison  de  bonne  conuenance  ] 

Ceste  forme  a  et  grant  coincidence  i 

Pource  dis  ie  que  pour  ceulx  qui  ont  cure  ' 

De  faire  ditz  qui  aient  bonne  essence  ^ 

Le  champ  royal  est  de  noble  faicture.  j 

Du  champ  royal  la  compilation  j 
Est  en  ce  dit  rethoricalement 

Si  est  aussi  la  postillation  \ 

Et  en  tout  dit  pareil  egalement  j 

Qui  cinq  coupletz  a  dune  forme  vnique  \ 

Bien  pareille  semblable  &  politique  ' 
Terminaison  selon  ce  que  commence 

La  premiere  couple  sans  difference  j 

Auec  aussi  prince  de  leur  figure  i 

Ou  a  motie  des  coupletz :  ainsi  en  ce  ;■ 

Le  champ  roval  est  de  noble  faicture.  << 

j 

Pluseurs  gens  font  reduplication  ; 

De  la  ligne  croissant  seeondement  ; 

Luy  redoublant  sa  termination  ,i 

Mail  il  souffist  faire  sortablement  .' 

De  la  sorte  de  ceste  que  iapplique  * 

Item  aueuns  par  forme  manifique  i 

Font  en  telz  ditz  de  leur  forme  sequence  j 

Double  refrain  par  forme  deloquence  ] 

Item  pluseurs  en  mentrificature  \ 

Dyalogue  sont:  et  en  leur  sentence  I 

Le  champ  royal  est  de  noble  faicture.  \ 


358  THE  BALLADE 

Prince  royaulx  retrogradaeion 

Belle  et  noble  est  quant  bien  on  le  figure 

Et  en  telz  ditz  fait  decoration 

Ainsi  qui  tient  telle  proportion 

Le  champ  royal  est  de  noble  faicture.^^ 

At  least  as  late  as  Colletet,  the  author  of  L'Escole  des 
Muses  (1652),  the  theorists  repeated  the  same  formula,  or 
approximately  the  same  one  that  L'Infortune  and  Molinet 
prescribed.  The  chant  royal  and  the  ballade  became  the 
favorite  forms  of  the  poets  of  the  puy.  Whereas  the  bal- 
lade originated  outside  the  puy,  and  was  adapted  to  the 
circumstances  under  which  poetic  contests  were  held,  the 
chant  royal  seems  to  have  been  the  wholly  sophisticated 
artifice  of  poetic  contrivers  who  were  familiar  with  the 
chansons  of  the  trouveres,  with  the  balletes,  and  with  the 
early  ballades.  Both  the  chant  royal  and  the  serventois,  as 
we  get  them  in  the  fourteenth  century,  are  the  product  of 
conditions  in  the  puy. 

11  f .  biiii*. 


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CHAPTER  I 

The  Origins  of  the  Ballade 

Works,  General  Authorities,  etc. 

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360  THE   BALLADE 

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BIBLIOGRAPHIES  361 

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Language  Association,  XIX  (1904). 
ZiNGERLE,  W.  VON    Zu  Roman  de  la  Dame  a  la  Lycorne  et 

du  Beau  Chevalier.    Philologische  und  Y olkskundliche 

Arbeit  en  Ka/rl  Vollmollers.     1908. 

The  Puy 

Manuscripts 

Bodleian  Library.  Ms.  Douce  379. 
Bibliotheque  de  Rouen.  Ms.  Y  80. 
Bibliotheque  de  Rouen.  Ms.  Y  18. 
Bibliotheque  de  Rouen.    Ms.  Y  48. 

General  Authorities,  etc. 

Aymard.  Notice  Relatif  a  VAncienne  Confrerie  de  Notre 
Dame  du  Puy.  Congres  Scientifique  de  France.  22^ 
Session,  tome  2.    Paris,  1856. 

BeauvHjLE,  V.  DE.  Recueil  de  Documents  Inedits  Concern- 
ant  la  Picardie.     3  vols.    Paris,  1860-1882. 

Beaurepairb,  E.  de  E.  de.    ttude  sur  la  Poesie  Populaire 
en  Normandie.    Paris,  1856. 
Les  Puys  de  Palinod  de  Rouen  et  de  Caen.     Caen,  1907. 

B^dier,  J.  Richard  de  Normandie.  Romanic  Review,  I 
(1910). 

Breuil.    La  Confrerie  de  Notre-Dame-du-Puy  d' Amiens. 
Amiens,  1854. 
Memoires  de  la  Societe  des  Antiquaires  de  Picardie  III, 
p.  489.    Amiens,  1838  et  ann.  suiv. 

Bourgueville,  C.  de.  Les  Recherches  et  Antiquitez  de  la 
Province  de  Neustrie,  a  present  Duche  de  Normandie, 
comme  des  Villes  remarquable  d'icelles,  mats  plus 
speciallement  des  ville  et  universite  de  Caen.  Caen, 
1588. 


BIBLIOGRAPHIES  366 

Caseneuve,  p.  de.  Origine  des  Jeux  Fleureux  de  Toulouse. 
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DuRiLLET,  L.    Le  Poete.     See  below. 

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GuiOT,  J.  A.  Les  Trois  Siecles  Palinodiques  ou  Histoire 
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Grimm,  J.  Deutsche  Bechtsalterthilmer.  Bd.  II,  800-802. 
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Passy,  L.  Bihliotheque  de  VJScole,  des  Chart es,  4^  Serie,  V 
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366  THE   BALLADE 

Le  Poete,  Ode  qui  a  remporte  un  prix  aux  Jeux  Floraux,  le 
3  max  1808,  par  M.  L.  Durillet  (de  Dole),  membre  de 
I'Academie  de  BesanQon.  Moniteur,  Mardi,  7  juin, 
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Recueil  des  (Euvres  qui  ont  remporte  les  prix  sur  le  puy  de 
VImmaculee  Conception  de  la  Yierge,  en  Van  1655. 
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Ahhe  d^Eu,  Prince  du  Puy  annee  presente,  Rouen, 
1643? 

Riley,  H.  T.  Memorials  of  London  and  London  Life,  in 
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series  of  extracts,  local,  social,  and  political,  from  the 
early  archives  of  the  City  of  London.  A.  D.  1270- 
1412.  London,  1868. 
Munimenta  Gildhallae  Londoniensis ;  Liher  Alhus;  Liber 
Custuarum,  and  Liher  Horn.  Vol.  II,  part  II.  Lon- 
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Roquefort,  J.  B.  B.  de.  De  Vl^tat  de  la  Poesie  Frangaise 
dans  les  XIP  et  XIIP  Siecles.    Paris,  1815. 

CHAPTER  II 

The  Ballade  in  France  from  the  Middle  of  the  Four- 
teenth TO  THE  End  of  the  Seventeenth  Century. 

Manuscripts 

Bihliotheque  Nationale*  Ms.  Frangais  1707. 
Bibliotheque  Nationale.  Ms.  Frangais  2306. 
Bihliotheque  Nationale.  Ms.  Frangais  19369. 
Bihliotheque  Nationale.  Ms.  Frangais  24408. 
British  Museum  Manuscript  Additional  15224. 
British  Museum  Ms.  Barley  4397. 


BIBLIOGRAPHIES  367 

Works,  General  AutJiorities,  etc. 

Bartsch,  K.     Chrestomathie  de  VAncien  Franga/is.    Leip- 
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Blanchemain,  p.     CEuvres  Completes  de  Melin  de  Sainct- 

Gelays.    3  vols.     Paris,  1873-4. 
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Bihl.   de   Vtcole   des   Chartes.   t.   IV'    (Paris,    1895. 

Vol.  56,  pp.  99-140;  27^317;  601-638). 
Bouchet,  J.     Opuscelles  du  Trauerseur  des  Voyes  Peril- 

leuses.    Nouvellement  par  lui  reueuz,  etc.     Poitiers, 

1526. 
Le  CJiappellet  des  Princes  en  Cinquente  Bodeaulx,  et 

Cinq  Ballades  Faict  et  Compose  par  le  Trauerseur  des 

Voyes  Perilleuses.    Paris,  1517. 
XIII  Bondeaulx  Di-fferens.    Avec  XXV  Balades  Differ- 

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Champion,  P.    Charles  d'Orleans,  Joueur  d'J^cJiecs.    Paris, 

1908. 
Le  Ms.  Autographe  des  Poesies  de  Charles  d' Orleans. 

Paris,  1907. 
Champollion-Figeac,  a.    Louis  et  Charles  Dues  d'Orleans 

Leur  Influence  sur  les  Arts,  la  Litterature  et  V Es- 
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Champollion-Figeac.     Paris,  1842. 
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2  Vols.     Paris,  1909. 
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Deshoulieres,  Mme  ET  Mlle.     CEuvres.     2  vols.     Paris, 

1803. 


368  THE   BALLADE 

Duchesne,   A.     Les  (Euvres  de  Alain  Chartier.    Paris, 

1617. 
Ehrlich,   a.     Jean  Marot's   Lehen   u.    Werke.    Leipzig, 

1902. 
Fehse,  E.     Sprichwort  u.  Sentenz  hei  Eustache  Deschamps 

u.  Dichtern  seiner  Zeit,    Berlin,  1905. 
HoEPFFNER,  E.     Anagramma  u.  Rdtselgedichte  hei  Guil- 

laume  de  Machaut.    Zeitschrift  fur  Romanische  Phi- 

lologie,  XXX  (1906),  pp.  401-413. 
Eustache  Deschamps,  Lehen  u.  Werke.    Strassburg,  1904. 
Frage-  und  Antwortspiele  in  der  Franzosischen  Litera- 

tur  des  14.  Jahrhunderts.    Zeitschrift  fUr  Romanische 

Philologie,  XXXIII  (1909),  pp.  695-710. 
d'Hericault,  C.     Guillaume  Coquillart:  (Euvres.     Paris, 

1857. 
Les  (Euvres  de  Roger  de  Collerye.     Paris,  1855. 
Jannet,  p.     (Euvres  Completes  de  Clement  Marot.    4  vols. 

Paris,  1873-1876. 
Klein^ert,  G.     TJeher  den  Streit  zwischen  Leih  u.  Seele. 

Halle,  1880. 
Knobloch,  H.    Die  Streit gedichte  im  Provenzalischen  und 

Altfranzosischen.    Breslau,  1886. 
La  FONTAINE,  J.  DE.    (Euvrcs  Completes.    18  vols.    Paris, 

1819-21. 
L'Englet-Dufresnoy,  N,    (Euvres  cfe  Clement  Marot  .  .  . 

avec  (t.  v.)  les  Ouvrages  de  Jean  Marot  son  Pere.    4 

vols.    La  Haye,  1731. 
Le  Roux  de  Lincy,  a.  J.  V.    Le  Livre  des  Proverhes  Fran- 

gais.    2  vols.    Paris,  1859. 
Recueil  de  Chants  Historiques  Franqais.     Paris,  1841- 

1842. 
'^La  Bihliotheque  de  Charles  d' Orleans  a  son  Chateau  de 

Blois  {en  1427).^^    Bihliotheque deVl^cole des Chartes. 

Paris,  1843/4,  tome  V,  pp.  59-82. 


BIBLIOGRAPHIES  369 

Lettenhove,    K.   de.      (Euvres   de   Clmstellain.     8   vols. 

Brussels,  1863-66. 
LoNGNON,   A.   H.     Frangois   Villon:    (Euvres   Completes. 

Paris,  1892. 
^tude  Biographique   sur  Frangois   Villon,   d'apres   les 

Documents  Inedits  Conserves  aux  Archives  Nationales. 

Paris,  1877. 
Les  Deux  Coquillart.    Romania,  XXIX  (1900),  pp.  564- 

569. 
Marot,  Clement.     See  (Euvres  below. 
Mennung,  a.    Jean-Frangois  Sarasin^s  Lehen  und  Werke, 

Seine  Zeit  und  Gesellschaft.    2  vols.    Halle,  1902-04. 
Meschinot,  J.    Les  Lunettes  des  Princes,    Paris,  1539. 
Meyer,  P.    Documents  Manuscrits  de  L'Ancienne  Littera- 

ture  de  la  France  Conserves  dans  les  Bihliotheques  de 

la  Grande-Bret agne.     Extrait  des  Archives  des  Mis- 
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MoNOD,  M.  B.     Guillaume  de  Machault,  Quinze  Poesies 

Inedits.    Versailles,  1913. 
Montaiglon,   a.   de.     Jehannot   de   Leseurel:    Chansons, 

Ballades  et  Rondeaux.    Paris,  1855. 
Recueil  de  Poesies  Frangaises  des  XV^  et  XVP  Siecles. 

13  vols.     Paris,  1855-78. 
Nefp,  T.  L.    La  Satire  des  Femmes  dans  la  Poesie  Lyrique 

Frangaise  du  Moyen-Age.    Paris,  1900. 
(Euvres  de  Clement  Marot  .  .  .  avec  les  Ouvrages  de  Jean 

Marot  son  pere  ceux  de  Michel  Marot  son  Fits  &  les 

Pieces  du  Different  de  Clement  avec  Frangois  Sagon. 

4  vols.    A  la  Haye,  1731. 
OuLMONT,  C.     Pierre  Gringore.     Paris,  1911. 
Paris,  G.    Francois  Villon.    Paris,  1911. 
Patterson,  F.  A.    The  Middle  English  Penitential  Lyric. 

New  York,  1911. 
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25 


370  THE  BALLADE 

Romania,  XXI  (1892),  pp.  581-596;  XXII  (1893),  pp. 

254-260. 
PicoT,  E.    Supercherie  d'Antoine  Yerard.    Romania,  XXII 

(1893),  pp.  244-260. 
QuEux  DE  Saint-Hilaire,  Marquis  de,  and  Raynaud,  G. 

Eustache   Deschamps:    CEuvres   Completes.     11   vols. 

Paris,  1878^1903. 
Quicherat,  J.    Les  Vers  de  MaJitre  Henri  Baude.    Paris, 

1856. 
Henri  Baude.    Bihl.  de  Vtcole  des  Chartes.    X  (1848- 

49),  pp.  93-133. 
Raynaud,  G.    Les  Cent  Ballades.    Paris,  1905. 
Regnier,  H.    CEuvres  de  J.  de  la  Fontaine.    11  vols.    Paris, 

1883-1892. 
Ruutz-Rees,    C.      Charles    de    Sainte-Marthe    {1512-55). 

New  York,  1910. 
Roy,  M.     Christine  de  Pisan:  CEuvres  Poetiques.     3  vols. 

Paris,  1886-91. 
Les  CEuvres  de  M^.  Sarasin.    Amsterdam,  1694. 
Scheler,  a.     Poesies  de  Froissart.     3  vols.     Bruxelles, 

1870-72. 
Stecher,  J.    CEuvres  Completes  de  Jean  Lemaire.    4  vols. 

Louvain,  1882-91. 
Tarbe,  p.     Guillaume  de  Maehault:  CEuvres.    Reims  and 

Paris,  1849. 
Ubicini,  a.  CEuvres  de  Voiture.    Paris,  1855.    Vol.  II. 
VoLLMOLLER,  K.     Kritischer  Jahreshericht  ilher  die  Fort- 

schritte  der  Romanischen  Philologie.    11  vols.    Miin- 

chen,  1892-1910.     (Vol.  2  pub.  in  Leipzig.) 
Villon,  P.  CEuvres.     Editees  par  un  Ancien  Archiviste. 

Paris,  1911. 

The  Drama 
Brandenburg,  M.    Die  Festen  Strophengehilde  u.  Einige 

Kunstleien  des  Mystere  de  Saint  Barhe.    Greifswald, 

1907. 


BIBUOGRAPHIES  371 

Carnandet,  J.    La  Vie  et  Passion  de  Monseigneur  Sainct 

Didier,  Martir  et  Evesque  de  Lengres  p.  Maistre  Guil- 

laume  Flamang.    Paris,  1855. 
Carnahan,  D.  H.     The  Prologue  in  the  Old  French  and 

Provengal  Mystery.    New  Haven,  1905. 
Cledat,  L.    Le  Theatre  en  France  au  Moyen  Age.    Paris, 

1896. 
Erler,  C.    Mystere  de  Saint  Denis.    Marburg,  1896. 
GuESSARD,  F.,  ET  DE  CERTAIN,  E.     Le  Mist'cre  du  Siege 

d'Orleans.    Paris,  1862. 
Langlois,  E.    Jean  Molinet  Auteur  du  Mystere  S.  Quentin. 

Romania,  XXII  (1893),  pp.  552-553. 
LoHMANN,   W.      Untersuchungen  iiher  Jean  Louvets  12 

Mysterien    zu    Ehren    von    Notre    Dame    de    Liesse. 

Greifswald,  1900. 
IVIiCHEL,  F.     Le  Mystere  de  Saint  Loys,  roi  de  France. 

Westminster,  1895. 
MiJLLER,  L.    Das  Rondel  in  den  Franzosischen  Mirakel- 

spielen  und  Mysterien  des   15   u.   16  Jahrhunderts. 

Ausgdhen  u.  Ahhandlungen,  XXIV.     Marburg,  1884. 
Paris,   G.,  et  Raynaud,   G.     Le  Mystere   de  la  Passion 

d'Arnoul  Grehan.     Paris,  1878. 
Paris,  G.,  et  Robert,  U.  Miracles  de  Nostre  Dame.     So- 

ciete  des  Ancien  Textes  Frangaises.    Paris,  1876,  '77, 

78,  '79,  '80,  '81,  '83,  '93. 
Petit  de  Julleville,  L.    Histoire  du  Theatre  en  France; 

les  Mysteres.    2  vols.     Paris,  1880. 
PicOT,  E.    Le  Livre  et  Mystere  du  Glorieux  Seigneur  et 

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1912. 
Quedenfeldt,  G.     Die  Mysterien  des  Heiligen  Sehastien, 

Ihre  Quelle  wnd  Ihr  Abhdngigkeitsverhdltniss.    Mar- 
burg, 1895. 


372  THE  BALLADE 

Rothschild,  J.  de.    Le  Mistere  du  Viel  Testament.    So- 

ciete  des  Anciens  Textes  Frangaises.     3  vols.     Paris, 

1878,  79,  '81. 
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Journees.    Greifswald,  1900. 
Soderhjelm,  "W.,  et  Wallenskold,  a.     Le  Mystere  de 

Saint  Laurent.    Helsingfors,  1890. 
Stengel,  E.    L'Istoire  de  la  Destruction  de  Troye  la  Grant 

p.  Maistre  Jacques  Milet.    Marburg  u.  Leipzig,  1883. 
ToBLEB,  A.     Wechsel  der  Versarten  in  Mysterien.     Zeit- 

schrift  filr  Bomanischen  Philologie,  XIX  (1895). 

CHAPTER  III 
The  Theory  op  the  Ballade  from  Deschamps  to 

BOILEAU. 

Works,  General  Authorities,^  etc. 

AssELiNEAU,  C.    Le  Livre  des  Ballades.    Paris,  1876. 
Becker,  P.  A.     Autohiographisches  von  Jehan  Molinet' 

Zeitscrift  filr  Romanische  Philologie,  XXVI  (1902). 
Brunet,  J.  C.    Manuel  du  Lihraire.    9  vols.    Paris,  1860- 

1880. 
Chamard,  Henri.    Le  Date  et  VAuteur  du  '^Quintil  Hora- 

tion.'^    Revue  d'Histoire  Litter  aire  de  la  France-     15 

Janvier,  1898. 
Chatelain,  a.    Recherches  sur  le  Vers  Frangais  au  XV^ 

Siecle.     Paris,  1908. 
Grasserie,  M.  de  la.    De  la  Strophe  et  du  Poeme  dans  la 

Versification  Frangaise  Specialement  en  Vieux  Fran- 
gais.   Paris,  1893. 

1 A   suflBcient  bibliography   of  the   various   rhetorical   treatises   on 
versification,  dealing  with  the  Ballade,  is  given  in  Chapter  III  itself. 


BIBLIOGRAPHIES  878 

GoujET,  C.  P.     Bihliotheque  Frangoise  ou  Histoire  de  la 

Litterature  Frangoise,    18  vols.    Paris,  1740-1756. 
HuET,  G.     Langlois,  Becueil,  etc.     Le  Moyen  Age,  XVI 

(1903),  pp.  377-81. 
Kastner,  L.  E.    History  of  French  Versification.    Oxford, 

1903. 
Langlois,  E.    De  Artibus  Rhetoricae  Rhythmicae.    Paris, 

1890. 
Recueil  d'Arts  de  Second  Rhetorique,    Paris,  1902. 
Macfarlane,  J.    Antoine  Verard.    Illustrated  Monographs 

Issued  by  the  Bibliographical  Society,  VII.     London, 

1900. 
MoRF,  H.    Langlois,  Recueil,  etc.    Archiv  fiir  das  Studium 

der  Neueren  Sprachen  u.  Literaturen  CXII   (1904), 

pp.  229,  230. 
Pasquier,  E.    Les  Recherches  de  la  France.    Paris,  1633. 
Pellechet,  M.    Catalogue  des  Incunables  des  Bibliotheques 

Puhliques  de  France.    Paris,  1897. 
Pellissier,  G.    De  Sexti  Decimi  Saeculi  in  Francia  Artihus 

Poeticis.    Paris,  1883. 
PicoT,    E.     Langlois,    Recueil,    etc.      Romania,    XXXIII 
(1904),  pp.  111-114. 

RiCHELET,  P.     Versification  Frangaise.    Paris,  1677. 
Rigoley  de  Juvigny,  J.  A.    Les  BihliotJteques  Frangoises 

de  la  Croix  du  Maine  et  Du  Verdier  Sieur  de  Vaupiras. 

Paris,  1772. 
Stengel,  E.     Langlois,  Recueil^  etc.    Zeitschrift  fiir  Ro- 

manische  Philologie,  XXVII  (1903). 
RucKTASCHEL,  T.    Einige  Arts  Poetiques  aus  der  Zeit  Ron- 
sard's  u.  Malherhes.    London,  1889. 
ToBLER,  A.    Vom  Franzosischen  Vershau  Alter  und  Neuer 

Zeit.    Leipzig,  1903. 
ViLLEY,  P.    Les  Sources  Italiennes  de  la  Deffense  et  Illus- 
tration de  la  Langue  Frangaise.    Paris,  1909. 


374  THE   BALLADE 

Viollet-Le-Duc,  E.  L.  N.  Catalogue  des  Livres  Composant 
sa  Bihliotheque  Poeiique.     2  vols.    Paris,  1843-47. 

Wenderoth,  G.  Estienne  Pasquier's  Poetische  Theorien 
und  Seine  Tdtigkeit  als  Literarhistoriker.  Bomanische 
Forschungen,  XIX,  pp.  1-75.    Erlangen,  1905. 

ZscHALiG,  H.  Die  Verslehren  von  Fdbri,  Du  Pont  und 
Sihilet.    Leipzig,  1884. 

CHAPTEE  rV 
The  Middle  English  Ballade 

Manuscripts 

Bodleian  Ms.  Fairfax  16, 

Bodleian  Ms.  Tanner  346. 

Bodleian  Ms.  648. 

British  Museum  Ms.  Arundel  26. 

British  Museum  Ms.  Lansdowne  380. 

British  Museum  Ms.  Lansdowne  699. 

British  Museum  Ms.  Barley  7333, 

British  Museum  Ms.  16165. 

Cambridge  University  Library  Ms.  Ff.  1.  6. 

Trinity  College  Cambridge  Ms.  R.  14.  5. 

Trinity  College  Cambridge  Ms.  R.  3.  20. 

Works,  General  Authorities,  etc. 

Bateson,  M.  George  Ashhy^s  Poems.  Early  English  Text 
Society.    Extra  Series  76.     London,  1899. 

Bock,  F.  Metrische  Studien  zu  Thomas  Hoccleves  Werken. 
Miinchen,  1900. 

Bolle,  W.  Zu  Lyrik  der  Rawlinsmi  Ms.  C.  813.  Anglia, 
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380  ,  THE  BALLADE 

CHAPTER   V  j 

The  Ballade  in  the  Nineteenth  Century 

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INDEX 


Abstractions  personified,  103 

Acart  de  Ilesdin,  Jehan,  Nine  bal- 
lades in  La  Prise  Amoureuse  of, 
32 ;  he  serves  as  a  link  between 
the  early  trouv^res  and  the  bal- 
lade writers,  33 ;  Balade  I  of,  34- 
35 

Acknowledgments,  xii 

Acrostic  ballades,  55 

Adan  de  la  Hale,  Chanson  of,  like 
a  ballade,  4,  28-29;  active  at 
the  Puys  d' Arras,  42 ;  five  stanza 
poem  of,  not  a  chant  royal,  354 

Against  Women  Inconstant  (Chau- 
cer), 245 

Alcestis  on  lyrics  of  Chaucer,  233 

Amour,  Jehan  Meschinot's  four  bal- 
lades on,  53-54 

Aneau,  Barth^lemy,  Le  Quintil  Ho- 
ratian,  198-201 ;  strangely  reac- 
tionary, 219 

Arras,  see  Puys  d'Arras 

Art,  L',  et  Science  de  Rhetorique 
Vulgaire,  187-92;  rules  for  bal- 
ades  and  chants  royaux,  188-189  ; 
based  largely  on  Molinet,  gives 
seven  varieties,  216 

Ashby,  George,  Use  of  term  balade, 
228 

Ashmole  MS.  contains  no  ballades, 
291-92 

Auton,  Jean  d'.  Ballade,  Les  Tre- 
soriers,  on  Louis  XII's  campaign 
in  Naples,  133 

Balada,  Provencal,  origin  of  balade 
and  cognate  forms,  1,  3,  45 ;  and 
dansa  analogues  of  the  ballade, 
8-9 ;  forms  of  the,  9-11 ;  date  of 
specimens  examined  imcertain, 
13;  the  ballette  the  French 
analogue  of  the,  16-17 ;  the  re- 
frain in  the,  points  to  a  popular 
origin  in  the  dance  song,  45 

Balada  per  dyalogum,  described  in 
verse  in  kind,  181-82 

Balada  retrogada,  described  in  verse 
in  kind.  180-81 

Balade,   first    used    in    English    by 


Chaucer,  1 ;  associated  with  songs 
or  lyric  poetry  in  England,  2 ; 
earliest  French  use  of  as  barade, 
3 ;  next  use  in  Jeu  du  P^lerin, 
3-4 ;  and  baladele  applied  to 
three-stanza  poems  with  common 
rimes  and  refrains,  4,  29 ;  term 
ballette  used  in  Northern  France, 
4-5;  ballette  the  Old  French 
analogue  of  the,  15 ;  stanza  of 
the,  recalls  the  structure  of  a 
ballette  stanza,  29-30;  in  late 
13th  century,  46;  the  term,  in 
Middle  English,  225-32;  a  syno- 
nym for  the  ballet,  232;  balade 
ryale  and  chant  royal,  265 

"  Balade  bien  substancieuse,"  sen- 
tentious in  purpose  and  in  ex- 
pression,   100-1 

"  Balade  coulourd  and  Reuersid," 
286-87 

Balade  de  Bon  Conseyl  (Chaucer) 
see  Truth 

Balade  fet  de  la  Reygne  Katerine 
Russell,  289-91 

Balade  ryal.  Use  of  term,  226;  19 
in  Quixley's  collection,  265 

Baladele,  term  used  with  balade  by 
Nicole  de  Margival,  for  three- 
stanza  poem,  4 ;  very  primitive 
monorimes  in,  29 

Ballad  and  ballade  have  two  fea- 
tures in  common,  xiii-xiv ;  tech- 
nical terms,  1 ;  use  of  terms  in 
England  in  19th  century,  2 

Ballad  of  Oood  Counsel  exhibits  the 
conventional  structure,  295-96 

Ballade,  Fixed  verse  form  of,  xiil ; 
defined  in  Rostand's  Cyrano  de 
Bergerac,  xiv-xvl ;  popularity  of, 
in  France,  14th  to  16th  century, 
xvii-xviii ;  technique  of,  the  poet's 
problem,  xix ;  origin,  definition 
and  use  of  the  term,  1-3 ;  present 
use,  in  France,  2 ;  primitive 
dance  song  theory  of  A.  Jeanroy, 
5-8 ;  Stengel  on  the  ballade 
stanza,  9 ;  Jeanroy  on  the  ballette 
stanza,  10-12 ;  Stengel  postulates 


383 


384 


INDEX 


archetypal  ballade,  12 ;  the  dansa 
connected  with  the,  13-15 ;  de- 
scended probably  from  the  bal- 
lette,  23-24;  final  stages  In  evo- 
lution of,  accomplished  in  the 
puy,  39;  envoy  attached  to  the, 
in  the  puys,  38,  44-45 ;  summary 
of  the  origins  and  development 
of  the,  45^6 ;  metrical  form  of, 
conditioned  by  popular  dance 
airs,  50;  Middle  English  use  of 
term,  226-32 ;  no  longer  In  cur- 
rent use,  231-32 ;  used  as  envoy 
of  longer  poems  by  Lydgate,  253 ; 
and  chant  royal  favorite  forms 
with  poets  of  the  puy,  358 

Ballade  ialladant,  3.  Molinet  on  the, 
176,  214  ;  FabrI  on  the,  186  ;  191 

"Ballade  contre  les  Anglais,"  92n72  ; 
belongs  in  category  of  historical 
ballades,  93 

Ballade  couronnee  defined,  217 

Ballade  equivoque  and  retrograde, 
Deschamps  on  the,  162-63,  210 

'^  Ballade  fatris^e,"  a  double  ballade 
found  In  Sainct  Didier,  149-50 ; 
J.  Molinet  on  the,  177-78 ;  191-92 

Ballade  In  England,  vanished  with 
generation  after  Chaucer,  xviil ; 
not  so  popular  as  In  France,  222 ; 
reappearance  after  lapse  of  four 
centuries,  300;  In  1876-77,  316- 
18 

Ballade  In  France,  14th  to  17th 
century,  47-153  :  Fund  of  ballade 
ideas  accumulated,  47-49 ;  fav- 
ored in  the  drama  and  by  poets, 
48 ;  variety  in  form,  49-50 ;  freak 
forms,  50-54 ;  acrostic,  55 ;  In 
dialogue,  56-63 ;  more  and  more 
diversified  in  form,  63;  the  Re- 
ligious ballade,  63-81 ;  tricks  of 
the  ballade  writers,  152 ;  equally 
appropriate  for  expression  of 
sacred  or  profane  emotions,  153; 
of  to-day  a  poetic  trifle,  153 ; 
vogue  of  the,  reflected  In  the 
rhetorico-poetical  treatises  of  the 
15th  and  16th  centuries,  154 ; 
Bolleau  shows  verdict  of  French 
classical  age  on,  155,  220;  Bib- 
liography of  theory  of,  155-59, 
372-74 

Ballade  In  France  in  19th  century 
ace  Ballade  in  the  19th  century 

Ballade,  The,  in  Scotland,  295-98; 
three  examples  of,  295 :  The  Bal- 


lad of  Good  Counsel,  imitated 
from  Chaucer,  295-96 ;  ballade 
In  Douglas's  Police  of  Honour, 
296-97 ;  by  unknown  author,  297- 
98 

Ballade,  The,  In  the  Nineteenth 
Century,  300-39:  Revived  In 
France  and  In  England,  300 ;  re- 
introduced in  France  by  Sainte- 
Beuve,  300-1 ;  Theodore  de  Ban- 
ville  the  most  significant  figure, 
301 ;  the  ballades  of,  302-8 ; 
Francois  Copp^e,  308-9;  Albert 
Glatlgny,  the  vagabond  poet,  309- 
10 ;  Laurent  Tallhade's  ferocious 
satire,  310-11 ;  Emile  Bergerat. 
most  prolific  of  modern  ballade 
writers,  311-13 ;  the  decadent 
Maurice  Rollinat,  313-14;  Ed- 
mond  Rostand,  three  ballades, 
314-15 ;  Jean  Richepin's  Ballade 
de  Bonne  Recompense,  315-16 ; 
the  revival  In  England,  316-17 ; 
poetic  policy  of  E.  Gosse,  317-18 ; 
the  first  pure  ballades  in  modern 
English,  319  ;  Austin  Dobson,  319- 
21 ;  Andrew  Lang,  322-30 ;  Trans- 
lations of  Villon's  Ballade  of 
Dead  Ladies,  322-27;  Ballad  of 
the  Gibbet,  327-28  ;  ballades,  329- 
30 ;  Edmund  Gosse,  330-31 ;  Al- 
fred Noyes  on  Gosse,  331 ;  bal- 
lades to  Banville,  331-32;  bal- 
lades by  Swinburne,  332-34; 
Henley,  334-35 ;  Brander  Mat- 
thews, 336-37;  F.  D.  Sherman's 
To  Austin  Dobson,  337-38 ;  fall 
of  the  ballade,  338-39;  Bibliog- 
raphy, 380-81 

Ballade  Latine  of  Nicolle  Lescarre, 
342^3 

Ballade  of  farewell,  at  Louis's  de- 
parture for  Egypt,  in  Le  Mystdre 
de  Saint  Louis  Roi  de  France, 
146-47 

"  Ballade  pour  le  seconde  Terme," 
Lafontaine's,  xvin2 

Ballade  prayer  In  Myst^rc  de  Sainte 
Barbe,  137-39 

Ballade  Sequences,  109-17 ;  Poems 
containing  series  of  ballades,  109  ; 
three  sequences  of  one  hundred 
ballades  and  one  group-  of  fifty, 
109 ;  Cinkante  Balades,  by  John 
Gower,  109-10,  114;  two  cen- 
turies by  Christine  de  Pisnn,  110; 
the   Cent   Ballades,   110-12;    her 


INDEX 


385 


Cent  Baladea  d'Amant  et  de 
Dame,  112-14 ;  Les  Cent  Ballades 
of  Jean  le  Seneschal,  110,  114- 
17 ;  stanza  of  reply  by  Guy  VI 
de  la  Tremollle,  117 ;  the  earliest 
in  Middle  English,  264-65 

Ballade  spoken  by  Vesca  in  Du 
Jugement  de  Salomon  has  dra- 
matic power,  145-46 

Ballade  tantogramme,  discovered  by 
Paul   Meyer,  52 

Ballade  without  envoy  In  Le  Mys- 
tdre  de  la  Passion  d'Amoul  Ore- 
han,  139-40 

Ballades,  The  earliest,  were  three- 
stanza  refrain  poems  with  the 
same  rime-scheme  throughout,  28  ; 
found  often  with  music  to  which 
they  were  sung,  29 ;  In  Le  Roman 
de  la  Dame  a  la  Lycome  et  du 
Biau  Chevalier  au  Lyon,  30-32 ; 
transitional  types  of,  33-38 ;  writ- 
ten to  be  sung,  50 ;  eccentricities 
of  rime  in,  54-55 ;  used  as  adorn- 
ments of  the  text  in  the  drama, 
137 ;  found  in  groups  in  several 
mysteries,  150  ;  sung,  or  declaimed 
to  the  accompaniment  of  music, 
151 ;  range  from  14th  to  17th 
century,  152 ;  Villon  alone  pro- 
duced, 152 ;  have  a  social  rather 
than  a  literary  interest,  152-53 ; 
Du  Pont  on  Qu^st  ce  que  Bal- 
lades, 192-94 ;  varieties  of.  In  Du 
Pont's   Controverses,   195-96 

Ballades,  Anonymous,  266-95  :  Eng- 
lish Poems  of  Charles  d'OrUans, 
267-68;  79  in  Watson  Taylor's 
collection,  268 ;  stanza  forms  and 
rime-scheme,  268-72 ;  three  on 
Chaucer,  272-75 ;  forty  others, 
275-76;  Skeat's  collection,  277- 
79;  The  He  of  Ladies,  279-80; 
Court  of  Sapience,  280-81 ;  Pricke 
of  Conscience,  281-82 ;  poems  at- 
tributed to  Duke  of  Suffolk,  282- 
84  ;  Chaunce  of  the  Dyse,  284-85  ; 
"  Balade  coulourd  and  Reuersid," 
286-87;  triple  balade,  287-89; 
ballade  to  Queen  Katherine, 
289-91 ;  John  Shirley's  collection, 
291-92;  Wyatt  and  Gascoigne, 
293-95 

Ballades  brought  together  for  the 
first  time,  ix,  161-92,  205-7 

Ballades  printed  for  the  first  time, 
List  of,  x-xi 
26 


Ballat  Royal,  Use  of  term,  231-32 

Ballettc,  The  ballade  so  called,  4-5, 
7-8 ;  Jeanroy's  theory  of  the  bal- 
lette  stanza,  10-12  ;  Stengel's,  12 ; 
Old  French  analogue  of  the  bal- 
ade, 15 ;  Bodleian  Ms,  contains 
108,  15 ;  chansons  d  danser  or 
ballettes  were  sung,  15 ;  aristo- 
cratic and  not  popular,  16 ;  old 
refrains  imbedded  In  the,  16-17 ; 
the  place  of  the  refrain,  17-18 ; 
one  of  the  earliest,  18-19;  re- 
frains of  the  Douce  Ms.  grouped 
In  six  classes  by  Stengel,  19 ; 
older,  in  a  Florentine  Ms.,  19-20 ; 
B.  A.  Meyer  traces,  to  early 
Latin  hymns,  20-23 ;  two  from 
the  Florentine  Ms.,  21-23;  bal- 
lade may  be  descended  from  the, 
23,  45 ;  other  poems  than,  show 
uniform  rime-scheme  throughout, 
24-28 ;  of  the  13th  century  were 
artistic  dance  songs,  45 

Ballettes,  progenitors  of  the  bal- 
lade, xiv 

Banville,  Theodore  de,  and  his  fol- 
lowers, cultivated  the  ballade, 
xviil,  xix ;  most  significant  figure 
In  the  revival  of  the  ballade  in 
France,  301,  309;  technique  of, 
302  ;  Trente-six  Ballades  Joyeuses, 
302-7 ;  Lang  and  Stevenson  on, 
303 ;  twelve  satirical  In  tone,  304- 
5  ;  six  on  poets  and  poetry ;  305 ; 
self-portraiture,  305-6 ;  two  bal- 
lades In  play  Gringoire  modelled 
on  Villon,  306-7  ;  Petit  Traiti6  de 
Poesie  Frangaise,  307-8,  318;  in- 
terchange of  ballades  between 
Frangois  Coppfie  and,  308-9;  im- 
pression made  by  work  of,  in 
England,  316 ;  letter  from,  to 
Gosse,  318 ;  Dobson  and  the  Odes 
Fumambulesques  of,  319 ;  Gosse's 
ballade  tribute  to,  331-32;  Swin- 
burne wrote  two  poems  in  mem- 
ory of,  332 

Barclay,  Alexander,  Use  of  term 
balade,  229-30 

Bartsch,  K.,  on  the  balada  and 
dansa,  8 

Baude,  Henri,  Stanza  of  dialogue- 
ballade  by,  125 ;  attacked  the 
Court  in  another  ballade,  125-26 

Baudry,  Nicolas,  "  Ballade  en  la 
personne  de  la  Vierge,"  69 


386 


INDEX 


Bellenger,  Robert,  addresses  the 
Virgin  as  a  substitute  for  the 
Muse,  72-73 

Belleville,  G.  de,  Ballade  by,  with 
refrain  "  Le  Roy  seul  exempt  du 
carnage,"    344-45 

Bergerat,  Emile,  a  follower  of  Ban- 
ville,  301;  "  Banvillesque,"  309; 
Ballade  d  Banville,  311-12 ;  most 
prolific  of  modern  ballade  writers, 
312  ;  anonymous  ballade  answered 
by  Rostand,  912-13 

Bevard,  Pierre,  Ballade  to  the  Vir- 
gin Mary,   74-75 

Bibliography  of  the  ballade  in 
France  from  14th  to  17th  cen- 
tury, 366-70 

Bibliography  of  the  ballade  in  the 
19th  century,  380-81 

Bibliography  of  the  drama,  370-72 

Bibliography  of  the  Middle  English 
ballade,  374-79 

Bibliography  of  the  origins  of  the 
ballade,  359-64 

Bibliography  of  the  puy,  364-66 

Bibliography  of  the  theory  of  the 
ballade,   155-59,   372-74 

Boethius,  source  of  Chaucer's  bal- 
lades, 240 

Boileau-Despr6aux,  Nicolas,  L'Art 
Po6tique,  208 ;  the  ballade  owes 
its  popularity  to  tricks  of  rime, 
220 

Bouchet,  Jehan,  Balade  de  la  Mort, 
83-84  ;  Balade  cotre  folles  Amours, 
120-21 

CaiUau,  Jean,  wrote  ballade  on  a 
refrain,  49 

Caillau,  Simonet,  wrote  ballade  on 
a  refrain,  49 

Cangon  in  Li  Regret  Guilaume,  37- 
38 

Cary,  H.  P.,  Translation  of  Villon's 
Ballad  of  Dead  Ladles,  323-24 

Challenge,  Gulllaume,  Two  ballades 
of,  340-42 

Champion,  Pierre,  authority  on 
Charles  d'0rl6ans,  268 

Chanson  picuse  of  Gulllaume  le 
Vinler,  with  a  uniform  rime- 
scheme  throughout,  24-25 

Chanson  picuse  with  a  refrain  and 
two  stanzas  with  the  same  rimes, 
composed  to  a  ballctte  air,  20-27 

Chanson     savante.     The      ballette 


stanza  borrowed  its  form  from 
the,  10 
Chant  royal.  The,  developed  in  the 
puys,  38,  352;  in  statutes  of  the 
English  puy.  Liber  Custumarwn, 
352-53 ;  explanation  of  by  L'ln- 
fortun6,  353;  Sibilet  on,  353; 
exact  term  in  Le  Dit  de  la 
Panth^re  d' Amours,  353-54  ;  with- 
out a  refrain  described  in  Les 
Ragles  de  la  Seconde  Rhetorique, 
354-55;  Herenc  on,  355;  De- 
schamps  gives  it  a  refrain,  355- 
56;  Molinet  cites  one  with  a  re- 
frain, 356;  example  from  L'ln- 
fortune,  356-58 ;  and  the  ballade 
favorite  forms  with  the  poets  of 
the  puy,  358 
Charles  d'Orl6ans,  Paradox  an- 
nounced by,  as  refrain  for  bal- 
lade competition,  48-49 ;  musical 
notation  in  a  Ms.  of,  50;  per- 
sonifies abstractions,  Dangler, 
Ennuieuse-pensee,  103-4 :  love 
poem  of,  in  La  Chasse  et  le  De- 
part d' Amours,  104-5;  revival  of 
interest  in,  in  England,  316; 
Stevenson's  study  of,  317 ;  trans- 
lated by  Miss  Costello,  319 
Charles  of  Jerusalem,  Ballade  on, 

260-61 
Chartier,    Alain,    Ballade    "  f  oy    la 
premiere  vertu  "  addressed  to  the 
Deity,  78-79 ;  translated  by  Miss 
Costello,  319 
Chasse,  La,  et  le  Depart  d'Amours, 

Love  poem  in,  104-5 
Chastellain,  Georges,  Three  poems 
of,  have  to  do  with  death,  84-86 
Ballade  on  the  rivalry  between 
Louis  XI  and  Charles  the  Bold, 
132-33 
Chaucer  found  successful  means  of 
expression  in  the  ballade,  xlx ;  six- 
teen ballades  attributed  to,  222, 
223,  251 ;  ballade  form  and  terms 
used  by,  225 ;  ballades  of,  233-52 ; 
Fortune,  234-36;  Compleynt  of 
Venus,  236-39;  To  Rosemounde, 
239  ;  Truth,  240-41 ;  Qentilesse, 
241-42 ;  Lak  of  Btedfastnesse, 
242-43 ;  Compleynt  of  Chaucer  to 
his  Empty  Purse,  243-45  ;  Against 
Women  Inconstant,  245  ;  Womanly 
Noblesse,  246-47 ;  Prologue  to 
Legend  of  Good  Women,  247-50; 
other  ballades  and  criticism,  250- 


INDEX 


387 


52 ;  references  to,  in  poems  of 
Charles  d'Orl^ans,  272-74 

Chaunce  of  the  Dyse,  284-85 

Collerye,  Roger  de,  Proverb  ballade 
of,  98-99 ;  restraints  of  decency 
not  felt  In  his  "  Contre  les  clercs 
de  chastellet,"  118-19;  ballade 
"contre  les  flatteurs  de  Court," 
126 

Colletet,  Prangols,  L'Eacole  dea 
Muses,  207-8;  lost  sight  of  the 
connection  of  the  puy  with  the 
origin  of  the  ballade,  219;  re- 
peats Mollnet's  formula  of  the 
chant  royal,  358 

Compleynt  of  Chaucer  to  his  Empty 
Purse,  The  (Chaucer),  243^5; 
the  envoy  the  last  piece  of  writ- 
ing done  by  Chaucer,  243 ;  Skeat 
on,  243-^4 

Compleynt  of  Venus, The  (Chaucer), 
236-39  ;  form  of  ballades  In,  237  ; 
translated  from  three  ballades  by 
Granson,  237-38;  Piaget  on,  238 

Confr^rie  de  Notre-Dame  des  Ar- 
dents  at  Arras,  41-43 

Confrerie  of  Jongleurs  at  the  Sainte- 
Trinlte  de  Fecamp  In  Normandy, 
40-41 

Confr6ries  de  la  Passion  succeeded 
the  puys,  152 

Coppge,  Frangois,  a  follower  of 
Banville,  301 ;  interchange  of 
ballades  between  Banville  and. 
308-9 ;  amatory  sentiment  of 
verse   of,   309 

Coetello,  Louisa  S.,  showed  no  con- 
sciousness of  the  rime  system, 
319;  translation  of  Villon's  Bal- 
lad of  Dead  Ladies,   324-25 

Cotgrave,  Handle,  Definition  of 
balade  in,  232 

Couppel,  Jehan,  Ballade  In  which 
praise  of  the  Virgin  Is  spoken  by 
her  son,  71-72 

Court  and  King  dealt  tenderly  with 
by  satirist,  123 ;  attacked  in  bal- 
lade by  Baude,  125-26 

Court  Love,  Ballades  of,  102-8  ;  love 
ballades  in  the  Courts  of  Love, 
103  ;  abstractions  personified,  103  ; 
Charles  d'Orl^ans  accuses  Dan- 
gier,  103 ;  his  Ennuieuse-pens^c, 
104 ;  love  poem  In  his  La  Chassc 
et  le  Depart  d'Amours,  104-5 ; 
love  ballade  of  Michaut,  105 ; 
John  Gower's   Cinkante  Balades, 


105-6 ;  Deschamps'  letter  bal- 
lades, 106-7 ;  Letra  d'Amours  of 
P.  de  Jasulhac,  107-8 

Court  of  Sapience,  Envoy  to,  280-81 

Courtly  love,  the  diversion  of  aris- 
tocratic society,  102-3 

Courts  of  Love  gave  occasion  for 
love  ballades,  103 

Croce,  Benedetto,  Conception  of 
criticism  of,  xlli 

Cyrano  de  Bergerac,  Rostand's  Defi- 
nition and  example  of  the  ballade 
in,  xiv-xvi 

Dance  song.  Hypothesis  of  an  arch- 
etypal, 23 

Dance  songs,  Fragments  of,  left, 
not  older  than  13th  century,  15- 
16 ;  the  primitive,  survive  only 
in  refrains,  45 

Dangier,  personified  by  Charles  d'- 
Orl6ans,  103 

Dansa,  The,  an  analogue  of  the 
ballade,  of  three  stanzas  preceded 
by  a  verse  unit,  8 ;  example  of, 
13-15 

Dansa  d'Amors  am  Refranh,  13-14 

Death,  Ballades  on,  81-87;  Balade 
de  la  Mort  by  Jehan  Bouchet,  83- 
84;  three  by  Chastellain,  84-86; 
a  pagan  reference  in  ballade  by 
P.  de  la  Vacherie,  86 ;  parley  be- 
tween Death  and  Man  in  ballade 
by  Meschinot,  86-87 

Debat,  The,  of  earlier  French  poetry, 
56 

Debat  du  Cuer  et  du  Corps  by  Vil- 
lon, 61-63 

Deimler,  Le  Sieur  de,  L'Acaddmie 
de  I'Art  Poetique,  207 ;  names 
thirty-two  kinds  of  poems  In 
French  poesy,  207 ;  only  names 
the  ballade  not  to  praise  It,  219 

Deity,  The,  speaks  In  an  Oraison 
by  Molinet,  77-78;  ballade  by  A. 
Chartier  addressed  to,  78-79 

Delaudun  Dalgaliers,  Frangois  de 
Pierre,  L'Art  Poetique,  204-6; 
writes  of  the  ballade  as  a  curi- 
osity, 219 

Des  Autelz,  Guillaume,  Repliques 
aux  Furieuses  Defenses  de  Louis 
Meigret,  201-2;  indignant  at  In- 
trusion of  the  antique  form,  219 

Des  Ormes,  Gilles,  wrote  ballade  on 
a  refrain,  49 


388 


INDEX 


Deschamps,  Eustache,  Number  of 
l)anade8  written  by,  xviii ;  the 
'ballades  of,  33 ;  two,  may  be  read 
in  eiglit  different  ways,  50-51 ; 
ballade  of,  on  the  books  of  the 
Bible,  52-53 ;  Dialogue  entre  la 
Ute  et  le  corps,  60 ;  Balade  and 
Autre  balade  de  Nostre  Dame,  66- 
67 ;  Allegorie  Satirique  des  Sept 
Piches  Capitaux,  80-81 ;  three 
poems  of,  on  "  ubi  sunt  "  theme, 
89-90  ;  proverbs  in  ballades  of,  95  ; 
titles  of  some  fable  ballades  of, 
101-2 ;  formulas  of  courtly  love 
in  ballades  of,  103 ;  used  the  bal- 
lade as  letter,  106-7 ;  balade  con- 
tre  les  femmes,  119 ;  titles  of 
historical  ballades  by,  129 ;  L'Art 
de  Dictier  contains  earliest  dis- 
cussion of  the  ballade,  154 ;  poet 
recited  did  not  sing  before  the 
Prince  du  puys,  160,  209 ;  speaks 
of  nine  varieties  of  ballade,  161, 
209 ;  explains  leonine  and  sonant, 
161,  162,  209;  ballade  equivoque 
and  retrograde,  162-63,  210 ;  on 
the  envoy,  163-64,  209 ;  poems  of, 
a  source  for  Chaucer,  244,  247- 
48 ;  use  of  proper  names  in  poems 
of,  247-48  ;  on  the  serventois,  348- 
49 ;  gives  the  chant  royal  a  re- 
frain, 355-56 

Deshouli^res,  Madame  de,  D6bat 
in  ballade  form  between,  and  M. 
le  Due  de  Saint  Aignan,  58-59 

Dethek,  Sir  William,  Ballade  in 
miscellaneous  collection  of,  286- 
87 

Dialogue,  The  ballade  in,  popular, 
56 ;  closely  resembles  the  tense, 
56;  varieties  of,  57-63;  divides 
or  fills  the  line,  57 ;  each  speaker 
has  a  group  of  lines,  a  whole 
ballade,  or  a  stanza,  57-59 ;  170, 
213 

Dialogue  entre  la  tHe  et  le  corps  by 
Deschamps,  60 

Dobson,  Austin,  Ballade  in  favor 
with,  316 ;  on  his  first  attraction 
to  the  ballade,  319 ;  Ballad  of  the 
Prodigals,  in  May,  1876,  319; 
fourteen  ballades  of,  320 ;  pref- 
ace on  Some  Foreign  Forms  of 
Verse,  321 ;  F.  D.  Sherman's  bal- 
lade to,  337-38 

Doleson,    Claude,    Ballade   prologue 


to  Notre  Dame  de  Puy  of,  spoken  j 

by  an  actor,  143-45  1 

Douglas,  Gawyn,  Three  stanza  poem  j 
in  Police  of  Honour,  296-97 

Dowden,  Edward,  on  Banville's  tech-  i 
nique,  302  ;  On  Some  French  Verse 

WHters,  317  \ 

Drama,    The    ballade    in    early    re-  ] 

ligious  and  secular,  48  | 

Drama,  The  Ballade  in  the,  137-52 ;  1 

in    the    15th    and    16th    century  ] 
mysteries,  137 ;  ballade  prayer  in 
Mysttre  de  Sainte  Barbe,  137-39  ; 

without  envoy  in  Le  Mystere  de  i 

la  Passion  d'Arnoul  Greban,  139-  j 

40 ;   addressed   to   the   Virgin   as  ] 

intercessor,     in     Mystere     d'une  j 

Jeune  Fille,  140-42 ;  occasionally  ' 

figured  as  prologue,  142 ;  spoken  ' 

by  a  priest  in  Le  Martire  de  Saint  j 
Adrien,    142-43 ;    spoken    by    an 

actor  in  Claude  Doleson's  Notre  I 

Dame  de  Puy,  143-45  ;  seventeen  { 

ballades   in   the   Mistere   de   Viel  j 
Testament,  145 ;  spoken  by  Vesca 

in    Du    Jugement    de    Salomon,  j 

145-46 ;  ballade  of  farewell  in  Le  I 

Mystere   de  Saint   Louis   Roi  de  j 

France,  146-47 ;  letter  ballade  to  \ 

Marguerite   from   Louis,    147-49 ;  j 

"  ballade  fatris6e  "  in  Sainct  Di-  \ 
dier,   149-50 ;    groups    in   several 

mysteries,  150 ;  Miracles  de  Nostre  I 

Dame  acted   at   some   puy,   151 ;  \ 

the  religious   drama  owes   to  its  \ 

connection  with   the  puy  the  in-  i 

terpolation    of   the   ballade,   152,  | 

153;  Bibliography,  370-72  j 

Du    Bellay,    Joachim,    La   Deffence  \ 

et  Illustration   de  Langue  Fran-  | 

Qoyse,  198 ;  inveighs  against  the  | 
ballade,  218;  marks  a  boundary 
line  between  the  old  and  the  new 

French  poets,  219  ; 

Du  Pont,  Graclen,  Les  Controverses  ! 

des  Sexes  Masculin  et  Feminin,  1 
121-23,  217-18;  Art  et  Science 
de  Rhetorique  Metrifl^e,  192-96; 
bases  his  rules  on  Fabri,  and 
names  eight  varieties,  192-94, 
216-17 ;  varieties  in  the  Contro- 
verses,  195-96 

EiUglish  does  not  lend  itself  to  the  ' 

rime-Juggling  of  the  French  bal-  \ 
lade,  252 


INDEX 


389 


English  Poems  of  Charles  d'OrUans, 
edited  by  Watson  Taylor,  267-76 

Ennui€use-pens6e,  personified  by 
Charles  d'Orl^ans,  104 

Envoy,  The,  attached  to  and  Identi- 
fied with  the  iallade  In  the  puj/a 
d'amouVj  38,  44-45,  46;  frequently 
addressed  to  the  "  Prince,"  presi- 
dent of  the  puy,  42,  46 ;  ad- 
dressed to  trouvdreSj  judges  and 
others,  46 ;  Deschamps  on,  163- 
64,  209 ;  In  English  hallade,  224 ; 
as  long  as  stanza  In  Lydgate's 
ballades,  259-60;  in  Taylor's 
poems  of  Charles  d'Orl^ans,  272 

Envoy  to  Alison,  277 ;  modernized 
by  Wordsworth,  277-78. 

"  Etat,  L',  de  la  France  apr&s  la 
bataille  d'Aglncourt,"  130 

Fable  ballades,  101-2 

Fabri,  Pierre,  Le  Orand  et  Vrai  Art 
de  Pleine  Rhetorique,  184-86 ; 
quotes  from  L'Infortun6  and 
Molinet,  215 ;  embraces  three 
varieties,  185-86,   215-16 

Fall  of  Princes  (Lydgate),  Envoys 
at  end  of  chapters  in,  256-62 ; 
due  to  taste  of  Humphrey  of 
Gloucester,  256 ;  thirty-one  are 
ballades,  256-57;  the  envoy 
stanzas  in,  359-60 ;  ballade  on 
Charles  of  Jerusalem,  260-61 ; 
conform  to  French  laws  for  bal- 
lade, 261-62 

Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  Ballade 
on  the,  by  Clement  Marot.  134-35 

"  Flos  producens  fructum  vite,"  re- 
frain of  Ballade  Latine  by  N. 
Lescarre,  342-43 

Flour  of  Courtesy e  (Lydgate),  Bal- 
lade at  close  of,  253-54 

Form,  Great  variety  within  the,  49 

Fortune  (Chaucer),  234-36;  bal- 
lades In,  234;  Fumlvall  on,  235- 
36  ;  query  If  autobiographical,  236 

Fortune's  wheel.  Figurative  use  of, 
236 ;  reference  to,  in  Truth,  240 

Francis  I  and  Henry  VIII,  Ballade 
of  the  meeting  of,  on  the  Field 
of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  by  C. 
Marot,  134-35 

French  history  finds  expression  in 
ballades,  128 

"Frere  Oliuler  Maillart,"  ballade, 
185 

Froissart,  Jean,  The  ballades  of,  33 ; 


proverbs  In  ballade  of,  in  M6Ua- 
dor,  96 ;  expressions  of  formulas 
of  courtly  love,  103 ;  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-eight  ballades 
in  his  Le  Livre  du  Tr6sor  Amou- 
reuw,  109 ;  similarity  of  ballade 
in  Chaucer's  Prologue  to  Legend 
of  Good  Women  to  ballade  in 
Paradys  d'Amours,  250 
Fumlvall,  F.  J.  on  Chaucer's  For- 
tune, 235-36;  on  Lak  of  8ted- 
fastnesse,  242 

Gascolgne,  George,  on  Ballades, 
231 ;  influence  of  ballade  on  work 
of,  293-94 ;  ballade  preface  to 
the  GHef  of  Joy,  294-95 

Gentilesse  (Chaucer),  241-42 

Glatigny,  Albert,  a  follower  of  Dan- 
ville, 301,  309;  vagabond  poet  of 
the  19th  century,  309;  Ballade 
des  Enfants  Sans  Souci,  309-10 

Gosse,  Edmund,  Ballade  in  favor 
with,  316 ;  on  the  introduction  of 
the  ballade,  317-18;  Ballad  of 
Dead  Cities,  330;  on  the  ballade 
in  the  EncycIopjBdia  Brittanica, 
330-31 ;  ballade  tribute  to  Ban- 
ville,  331-32;  Alfred  Noyes  on, 
331 

Gower,  John,  shows  familiarity  with 
courtly  love  in  his  Cinkante 
Balades,  105-6,  109 ;  cites  famous 
precedents,  106 ;  love  letter  bal- 
lades of,  106  ;  love  the  chief  topic 
of  the  Cinkante  Balades,  114 ; 
Traiti6  pour  Essempler  les  Amants 
Marietz  translated  into  Ehiglish, 
223,  264-66;  use  of  term  balade, 
225;  used  fixed  form,  228,  265- 
66;  eighteen  ballades  of,  in  Qulx- 
ley's  collection,  265 

Granson,  Oton  de.  Ballades  of, 
originals  of  Chaucer's  Compleynt 
of  Venus,  237-38 

Grief  of  Joy,  Ballade  preface  to, 
294-95 

Gringoire,  Pierre,  Pious  question- 
ing of  death  by,  93-94 

Guillaume  le  Vinier,  Chanson  pieuse 
de,  24-25 

Gummere,  F.  B.,  on  Villon's  refrain, 
90 

Guy  VI  de  la  Tremollle,  Stanza 
from  reply  of,  to  Jean  le  Sene- 
schal, 117 

Guy,  H.,  on  the  puy,  39-40,  42 


390 


INDEX 


Hales,  Thomas  de,  The  Luve  Ron 
of,  90-91 

Hardyng,  John,  Use  of  halade  in 
Chronicle  of,  227 

Hawes,  Stephen,  on  Lydgate  in 
Pastime  of  Pleasure,  229 

Henley,  W.  E.,  Ballade  in  favor 
with,  316;  ballades  by,  334-35 

Henry  VIII,  Ballade  of  the  meeting 
of,  with  Francis  I  on  the  Field 
of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  by  C.  Marot, 
134-35 

Herenc,  Baudet,  Le  Doctrinal  de  la 
Seconde  Rhetorique,  shows  the 
relationship  between  the  number 
of  lines  in  stanza  and  of  syllables 
in  the  refrain,  in  eight  varieties, 
168-72,  212-13  ;  on  the  serventois, 
350 ;  on  the  chant  royal,  355 

Historical  Ballade,  The,  128-37; 
several  by  Deschamps,  129;  bal- 
lade on  '•  L'Etat  de  la  France 
aprfes  la  batallle  d'Agincourt," 
130;  ballade  with  refrain  "Quy? 
— Voire  quy? — Les  trois  estats  de 
France,"  131-32;  by  Chastelain 
on  the  rivalry  between  Louis  XI 
and  Charles  the  Bold,  132-33; 
Les  Tresoriers  by  Jean  d'Auton, 
133 ;  on  the  meeting  on  the  Field 
of  the  Cloth  of  Gold  of  Francis  I 
and  Henry  VIII,  by  Clement 
Marot,  134-35;  ballades  on  Car- 
dinal Mazarin,  135,  136-37 

Hoccleve  and  the  ballade  form,  222 

Hugo,  Victor,  "  p^re  de  tons  les 
rlmeurs,"  305 

Humphrey  of  Gloucester,  Envoys  in 
Fall  of  Princes  due  to  taste  of, 
256 

Ideas,  Fund  of  ballade,  accumulated, 
47-49 ;  number  of  very  different, 
In  15th  century,  49 

lie  of  Ladies,  The,  Envoy  to,  279-80 

Immaculate  Conception,  Idea  of, 
touched  on  by  R.  Bellenger,  72- 
73  ;  ballade  on,  73-74 

Infortune,  L',  L'Instructif  de  Se- 
conde  Rhctoricque,  in  verse  gives 
three  types,  179-82,  214-15;  de- 
fines the  chant  royal,  353 ;  ex- 
ample of  a  chant  royal  with  a  re- 
frain, 356-58 

James  VI  of  Scotland  on  use  of 
Ballat  Royal,  231-32 


Jardin  de  Plaisance,  350 

Jasulhac,  P.  de,  Letra  d' Amours  of, 
107-8 

"  Je  meurs  de  soif  aupr&s  de  la 
fontaine,"  theme  for  a  ballade 
competition,  48-49 

Jean  le  Seneschal,  Les  Cent  Bal- 
lades of,  110;  have  considerable 
plot,  114-17;  sixteenth  Ballade, 
116-17 ;  stanza  from  answer  of 
Guy  VI  de  la  Tremoille,  117 

Jeanroy,  A.,  on  the  development  of 
the  ballette  stanza,  10-12 

Jeu  du  Pdlerin,  Use  of  balade  in  the, 
3^ 

Jongleurs,  Confririe  of,  at  the 
Sainte-Trinit6  in  Normandy,  40- 
41 

Katherine,  Ballade  possibly  to  a 
queen,  289-91 

Kaukesel,  Hubert,  trouv^re,  first 
used  balade,  as  barade,  3 

Koch,  J„  on  authenticity  of  Woman- 
ly Noblesse,  246-47 

La  Vigne,  Andr6  de,  A  ballade  pro- 
logue introduces  the  St.  Martin 
of,  145 

Lafontaine,  J.  de,  "  Ballade  pour  le 
second  Terme,"   xvi,  n2 

Lak  of  Stedfastnesse  (Chaucer) 
242^3;  Furnivall  on,  242 

Lang,  Andrew,  on  Banville,  303; 
ballade  in  favor  with,'  316 ;  on 
his  first  attempt  at  the  ballade, 
318-19 ;  translations  of  ballades, 
322 ;  of  Villon's  Ballade  of  Dead 
Ladies,  322-23 ;  third  stanza  of 
Ballad  of  the  Gibbet,  328 ;  trans- 
lated three  of  Banville's  ballades, 
328 ;  the  case  for  fixed  French 
forms  In  English  poetry,  328-29; 
original  ballades,  329-30 

Langlois,  E.,  on  the  serventois,  349- 
50 

Latin  hymns,  Early,  responsible  for 
form  of  Romance  songs  with  re- 
frain, 20-23 

Legend  of  Oood  Women  (Chaucer) 
Ballade  In  Prologue  to,  247-50; 
use  of  proper  names  In,  247-48 ; 
compared  with  ballades  by  De- 
schamps and  Machaut,  248-49 ;  J. 
L.  Lowes  on,  249-50 

Legrand,  Jacques,  Des  Rimes,  on  the 
interior  structure  of  the  ballade 


INDEX 


391 


stanza,  164-65,  210;  on  the  «er- 
ventois,  349 

Lemaire,  Jean,  Second  stanza  of  a 
double  ballade  of,  187 

Lescarre,  Nicolle,  Ballade  Latinc 
with  refrain  "  Flos  producens 
fructum  vite,"  342-43 

Lescurel,  Jehannot  de.  Ballades  of, 
are  transitional  types,  33  ;  eleven 
of,  survive,  one  given,  35-36 

Letra  d'Amoura  of  P.  de  Jasulhac, 
107-8 

Letter  ballade  from  Louis  to  Mar- 
guerite in  Le  MysUre  de  Saint 
Louis  Roi  de  France,  147-49 

Letters  in  ballade  form,  106-8 

Liber  Custumarum  on  the  chant 
royal,  352-53 

Longfellow,  H.  W.,  translated  C. 
Marot's  Le  Fr^re  Lubin,  ignoring 
the  rime  system,  319 

Louis  XI,  the  object  of  satire,  123- 
25 ;  ballade,  by  Chastelain,  on  the 
rivalry  between,  and  Charles  the 
Bold,  132-33 

Louis  XII,  Ballade,  Les  Tresoriers, 
on  failure  of  campaign  of,  in 
Naples,  133 

Lounsbury,  T.  R.,  on  the  triple  bal- 
lade, 279 

Love  ballades  of  Machaut,  De- 
schamps,  Froissart  and  Charles 
d'Orl^ans,  expressions  of  the 
formulas  of  courtly  love,  103 

Lowes,  J.  L.,  on  relation  of  Chau- 
cer's Legend  to  Froissart's  Para^ 
dys,  249-50 

Luve  Ron,  The,  of  Thomas  de  Hales, 
90-91 

Lydgate,  Ballades  by,  222;  form  of 
Flour  of  Courtesye,  223 ;  ballade 
form  and  terms  used  by,  225-26, 
227,  252-53 ;  commendation  of,  by 
Hawes,  229  ;  on  Chaucer,  233  ;  use 
of  envoy  ballades.  Flour  of  Cour- 
tesye, 253-54 ;  Seynt  Margarete, 
254-55  ;  Serpent  of  Division,  255- 
56  ;  Fall  of  Princes,  256-62  ;  modi- 
fied the  form  of  the  ballade,  262 ; 
religious  poems,  262 ;  ballade  pre- 
fixed to  a  Dietary,  262-64 ;  Tem- 
ple of  Olas,  264 ;  criticism  of  bal- 
lades, 264;  triple  ballade  attrib- 
uted to,  278-9 

MacCracken,  H.  N,,  on  use  of  term 
ballade,   226;    on    John    Quixley, 


265,  266;  on  authorship  of  Eng- 
lish poems  attributed  to  Charles 
d'0rl<5ans,    267-68 

Machaut,  Guillaume  de,  The  bal- 
lades of,  33 ;  expressions  of 
formulas  of  courtly  love,  103 ; 
love  ballade  of,  105 ;  a  series  of 
ballades  in  his  Le  Livre  du  Voir- 
Dit,  109 ;  a  source  for  Chaucer, 
243,   244-45,   249 

Ms.  Douce  379,  Ballades  from,  340- 
45 

Margival,  Nicole  de,  in  his  Dit  de 
la  Panth^re  has  a  balade  and  a 
baladele,  4 ;  among  the  earliest 
ballades,  29 ;  ballette  structure 
of  the  balade,  29-30 ;  changonete 
by,  really  a  ballade,  30 ;  uses 
chant  royal  in  his  Dit  de  la  Pan- 
th^re,  353-54 

Marot,  C16ment,  Eccentric  rime  baU 
lade  of,  54-55 ;  acrostic  by,  55- 
56 ;  ballade  by,  introducing  paral- 
lel between  Mary's  Son  and  the 
pelican,  75-76 ;  ballade  on  the 
Field  of  the  Cloth  of  Gold,  134- 
35 ;  Longfellow  translated  his  Le 
Frdre  Lubin  ignoring  the  rime 
system,  319 

Marot,  Jean,  Monologue  ballade,  in 
which  the  Virgin  Mary  speaks, 
67-68 

Martire,  Le,  de  Saint  Adrian,  Bal- 
lade prologue  to,  spoken  by  a 
priest,  142-43 

Mary,  The  Virgin,  chief  subject  of 
the  Religious  ballade,  63;  Vil- 
lon's ballade  prayer  to,  64-65 ; 
15th  century  ballade  to,  65-66; 
ballades  to,  by  Deschamps,  66-67 ; 
herself  speaks  in  a  monologue  by 
Jean  Marot,  67-68 ;  in  an  anon- 
ymous ballade,  68-69 ;  Molinet'a 
Oraison  to,  70-71 ;  praise  of, 
spoken  by  her  son,  71-72 ;  idea 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
touched  on  by  R.  Bellenger,  72- 
73 ;  ballade  "  sur  I'lmmacul^e 
Conception,"  73-74 ;  ballade  by 
Pierre  Beuard,  74-75 ;  parallel 
between  the  pelican  and  Mary's 
Son  in  ballade  by  C.  Marot,  75- 
76 ;  ballade  addressed  to,  as  in- 
tercessor, in  Myst^re  d'une  Jeune 
Fille,  140-42;  Lydgate's  ballade 
to,   262,   264 

Matthews,     Brander,     Ballade     in 


392 


INDEX 


favor  with,  316;  has  done  much 
to  develop  the  ballade,  336;  Bal- 
lade of  Adaptation,  336-37 

Mazarin,  Cardinal,  Ballade  in  praise 
of,  by  Voiture,  135 ;  bitter  attack 
on  in  Balade  du  Mazarin  Grand 
Jouer  de  Hoc,  135-37 

Meschinot,  Jehan,  Four  ballades  of, 
on  love,  53-54 ;  La  mort  parle  a 
I'homme  hiimaine  by,  86-87 ;  Les 
Lunettes  de  Princes,  123 

Meyer,  Paul,  on  the  puj/,  39;  6a?- 
lade  tantogramme  discovered  by, 
52 

Meyer,  R.  A.,  believes  Latin  hymns 
influenced  form  of  the  hallette 
stanza,  20-23 

Middle  English  ballade.  The,  222- 
99  :  Form  not  so  popular  in  Eng- 
land as  in  France,  222-23;  two 
collections,  223 ;  rigor  of  French 
form  relaxed  in,  223-24;  the  en- 
voy in,  224;  nomenclature,  225- 
32;  Chaucer's,  233-52;  Lydgate, 
252-64;  Quixley,  264-66;  Anon- 
ymous, 266-95;  Ballade  in  Scot- 
land, 295-98 ;  chronology  of,  diffi- 
cult to  determine,  298 ;  curious 
rather  than  beautiful,  299 ;  Bibli- 
ography, 374-79 

Middle  English  ballades.  Earliest, 
264  ;  anonymous,  266-91 ;  life  of, 
292-93 

Middle  Scots,  Ballades  composed  in, 
295 

Miracles  de  Nostre  Dame  acted  at 
some  puy,  151 ;  abound  in  ser- 
ventois  couronn6s,  348-51 

Mistere  de  Viel  Testament  contains 
seventeen  ballades,  145 ;  the  De 
Hestre  contains  two  ballades  in 
succession,  150-51 

Moll^re,  gives  verdict  of  the  17th 
century  on  the  ballade,  220-21 

Molinet,  Jehan,  Oraison  a  la  Vierge 
Marie,  70-71 ;  Oraison  par  Ma- 
niere  de  Ballade  In  which  the 
Deity  speaks,  77-78;  L'Art  de 
Rh6torique  Vulgaire,  distinguishes 
six  kinds  of  ballades,  174-75,  213- 
14  ;  examples  from  his  own  writ- 
ings, 175-78,  213;  ballade  bal- 
ladant,  176-77,  214;  on  the  ser- 
ventois,  350-51  ;  cites  a  chant 
royal  with  a  refrain,  356 

Monlot  d'Arras,  Poem  by,  showing 
same  rimes  in  all  stanzas,  27-28 


Montbeton,  wrote  ballade  on  a  re- 
frain, 49 

Mote,  Jehan  de  le,  Thirty  ballades 
in  Li  Regret  Ouilaume  Comte  de 
Hainault  by,  36-37;  text  of  the 
first  given,  37-38 

Musical  accompaniment  for  first 
stanza  in  a  ms.  of  Lescurel's,  50 

Mystdre,  Le,  de  la  Passion  d'Arnoul 
Greban,  139-40 

Newfanglenesse  (Chaucer)  see 
Against   Women   Inconstant,   245 

Nomenclature  in  Middle  English, 
225-32 

Notre  Dame  de  Puy  by  Claude  Dole- 
son,  Ballade  prologue  to,  spoken 
by  an  actor,  143-45 

Noyes,  Alfred,  on  Gosse's  poetry, 
331 

Octaves,  Ballades  written  in,  260 
Origins  of  the  ballade,  1-46  :  Origin, 
definition  and  use  of  the  term, 
1-3 ;  the  ballete,  4-5 ;  has  no 
mark  of  a  popular  origin,  5 ; 
primitive  dance  song  theory  of  A. 
Jeanroy,  5-8 ;  the  balada  and 
dansa,  8-9;  Stengel  on  the  bal- 
lade stanza,  9,  12 ;  Jeanroy  on 
the  ballette  stanza,  10-12 ;  the 
dansa  connected  with  the,  13-15 ; 
the  ballette,  16-23  ;  probably  de- 
scended from  the  ballette,  23-24 ; 
the  chanson  pieuse,  24-29 ;  the 
earliest  ballades,  29-38  ;  envoy  at- 
tached to  the,  in  the  puys,  38, 
44-45 ;  final  stages  in  evolution 
of  the,  accomplished  in  the  puy, 
39;  the  puys,  39-43;  the  con- 
frdries,  43-44  ;  summary,  45-46  ; 
Bibliography  of,  359-64 
Orleans,  Charles  d'.  Middle  English 
collection  of  ballades,  223,  267- 
68 ;  interest  of,  in  St.  Valentine's 
Day,  254  ;  79  ballades  translated 
from,  268 ;  stanza  form  and  rime 
scheme  of,  268-72 ;  envoys  in, 
272 ;  three  bear  on  Chaucer,  272- 
74 

Padelford,  F.  M.,  on  ballade  ma- 
terial, 292 

Police  of  Honour  (Douglas),  Three 
stanza  poem  in,  intended  for  a 
ballade,  296-97 

Pasquier,  Etienne,  Becherchea  de  la 


INDEX 


393 


France^  202-4 ;  derives  the  bal- 
lade from  the  chant  royal,  219 

Payne,  John,  Translation  of  Villon's 
Ballad  of  Dead  Ladies,  325-26; 
of  third  stanza  of  Ballad  of  the 
Gibbet,  327 

Pelican,  Parallel  between  Mary's 
Son  and  the,  In  ballade  by  C. 
Marot,  75-76 

Pelletier,  Jacques,  L'Art  Podtique, 
202;  a  follower  of  Du  Bellay, 
treats  the  ballade  with  contempt, 
219 

Petit  de  Jullevllle,  L.,  on  music  in 
the  mystery  plays,  151 

Piaget,  A.,  on  origin  of  Chaucer's 
Complepnt  of  Venus,  237-38 

Pierekins  de  la  Coupele,  trouv^re. 
Stanza  of  poem  by,  with  refrain 
and  identical  rimes,  27 

Pisan,  Christine  de,  Balades  d'- 
Estrange  FaQon,  50-52 ;  Balade  a 
responses  and  Balade  a  vers  a  re- 
sponses of,  57 ;  ballade  in  Le 
Livre  du  Due  des  Vrais  Amans, 
57-58 ;  used  a  proverb  as  refrain, 
96;  a  series  of  ballades  in  her 
Le  Livre  du  Due  des  Vrais-Amans, 
109 ;  the  Cent  Ballades  of,  on  a 
variety  of  subjects,  110-12 ;  the 
Cent  Balades  d'Amant  et  de 
Dame,  112-14 ;  wrote  an  his- 
torical ballade  on  the  death  of 
Philippe  Le  Hardi,  129-30 ;  poem 
by,  in  Taylor's  collection,  275-76 

Pieiade,  Members  of  the,  contemned 
the  ballade,  xvlii ;  Englishmen 
followed  the  prescriptions  of  the, 
252 

Poetry  composed  in  the  Pup,  340- 
45 ;  Ms.  Douce  379,  two  ballades 
by  Guillaume  Challenge,  340-42  ; 
Ballade  Latine  by  NIcolle  Les- 
carre,  342-43;  Ballade  by  G.  de 
Belleville,    344-45 

Poets'  Court  at  Toulouse,  1451-71, 
Examples  of  dansa  presented  at 
the,  13 

Pricke  of  Conscience,  281-82 

"  Prince,"  title  of  president  of  the 
Puy  at  Arras,  to  whom  the  en- 
voy of  poems  was  addressed,  42- 
46 

Prise  Amoureuse,  La,  by  Jehan 
Acart  de  Hesdin,  Ballades  in,  32- 
34;  Balade  I.,  34-35 

Prisonnier,    Le,    Desconfort6,    Bal- 


lade of  proverbs  in,  97-98 ;  a 
series  of  ballades  in,  109 

Prologue,  The  ballade  as  a,  142-45 

Proper  names,  Lists  of,  in  ballades, 
247,  248 

Proverbs  and  the  Ballade,  94-102: 
Reasons  for  their  Introduction, 
94 ;  common  in  ballades  of  De- 
schamps,  Christine  de  Pisan  and 
Frolssart,  95-96 ;  used  as  the  re- 
frain, 95-96 ;  Frolssart  used  the 
ready  made  wisdom  of,  96-97 ; 
balade  in  Le  Prisonnier  Descon- 
fort6,  97-98 ;  a  ballade  of  Col- 
lerye,  98-99;  Melin  de  Saint  Ge- 
lais  in  two  ballades  availed  him- 
self of  proverbs,  99-100  ;  Balade 
bien  substancieuse  thoroughly  sen- 
tentious, 100-1 ;  fable  literature 
and  animal  allegory,  101-2 

Pui  or  puy.  History  of  the  word, 
uncertain,  39-40 ;  adaptation  of 
ballade  to  religious  themes  in  the, 
63;   Bibliography   of  the,   364-66 

Purpose  of  the  work,  ix 

Puy  d' Arras,  a  "  confr^rie  de  Notre- 
Dame  des  Argents,"  41-43 ;  the 
president  called  "  Prince,"  to 
whom  the  envoy  of  poems  was  ad- 
dressed, 42 ;  took  up  the  ballade 
after  middle  of  14th  century,  43 

Puy,  Le,  town  in  Velay,  A  confrerie 
at,  39,  43 

Puy,  The  Miracles  de  Nostre  Dame 
were  acted  at  some,  151 

Puy  in  London,  Brotherhood  of  the, 
43-44  ;  Statutes  of,  in  Liber  Cus- 
tumarum,  43-44 

Puy,  Poetry  composed  in  the,  840- 
45 

Puys,  The,  succeeded  the  church 
in  the  exhibition  of  religious 
drama,    151 

Puys  d'amour.  Development  of  bal- 
lade, serventois,  and  chant  royal 
in  the,  38 ;  origin  of  the  word 
and  institution,  39-41 ;  originally 
religious  in  character,  established 
in  many  places,  41 ;  ballade 
favored  by  poets  in  the,  48 

Quixley,  John,  translated  Gower's 
Trains  pour  Essempler  les 
Amants  Marietz,  223,  228;  bal- 
lade form  used  by,  229,  265-66; 
translation  of  Gower's  Traitie 
earliest    Middle    English    ballade 


394 


INDEX 


sequence,  264-65;  Gower's  18 
hallades  in  Quixley's  collection, 
265 ;  MacCracken's  conjectures, 
265 
"Quy? — Voire  quy? — Les  trois  es- 
tats  de  France,"  131-32 

Refrains,  Some,  descended  from 
those  of  popular  poetry,  23;  for 
hallades  to  be  written  in  compe- 
tition, 48 

Ragles,  Les,  de  la  Seconde  Rh6- 
torique,  mention  six  varieties  of 
the  tallade,  165-68,  211-12;  on 
the  serventois,  349 ;  the  chant 
royal  described  in,  354-55 

Regret,  Li,  Guilaume  Gomte  de 
Hainault,  by  Jehan  de  la  Mote, 
Thirty  tallades  in,  36;  text  of 
the  first  given,  37-38 ;  the  trou- 
vdre  hero  of,  hastening  to  a  pup 
d'amour,  38 

Reigles,  Les,  de  Balades  et  Chantst 
Royaux,  188-89 

Religious  Ballade,  The,  63-81; 
chiefly  concerned  with  the  wor- 
ship of  Mary,  63;  Villon's  bal- 
lade prayer  to  the  holy  Mother, 
64-65 ;  prayers  to  the  Virgin, 
65-67,  70-71 ;  in  which  the  Vir- 
gin speaks,  67-69 ;  Virgin  praised 
by  her  Son,  71-72;  touching  on 
the  Immaculate  Conception,  72- 
75;  on  the  Deity,  77-79;  on  the 
seven  sins,  79-81 

Richepin,  Jean,  a  follower  of  Ban- 
vllle,  301 ;  Ballade  de  Bonne  Re- 
compense recalls  the  more  sordid 
side  of  Villon's  genius,  315-16 

Rime,  Eccentricities  of,  in  ballades, 
54 ;  Deschamps  on  leonine  and 
sonant,   161-62,   209-10 

Rime-scheme,  A  uniform,  in  other 
poems  than  "ballettes,  24-28 

Rimes  in  Taylor's  collections  of 
poems  of  d'Orl^ans,  271-72 

Robertet,  wrote  ballade  on  a  re- 
frain,  49 

Rollinat,  Maurice,  a  follower  of 
Banville,  301 ;  decadent  author 
of  Lcs  Nf^vroses,  313;  generally 
used  ballade  to  express  a  reflect- 
ive mood,  314 

Roman,  Le,  de  la  Dame  a  la  Ly- 
corme  et  dn  Biau  Chevalier  au 
Lyon,  contains  14  ballades,  30-32 


Ros,  Sir  Richard,  Use  of  term 
balade,  227-28 

Rossetti,  Christina,  Swinburne's 
ballade  to,  334 

Rossetti,  D.  G.,  Translation  of  Vil- 
lon's greatest  ballade  accidental, 
318,  319,  326-27;  never  sympa- 
thized with  the  ballade  move- 
ment, 318,  319 

Rostand,  Edmond,  a  follower  of 
Banville,  301 ;  solution  of  anon- 
ymous ballade  by  Bergerat,  312- 
13 ;  three  ballades  in  Les  Mu- 
sardises  are  the  lightest  of  poetic 
trifles,  314-15 

Roxburghe  Club,  publication  of 
poems  of  Charles  d'Orl^ans,  267 

"  Roy,  Le  seul  exempt  du  carnage," 
refrain  of  ballade  by  G.  de  Belle- 
ville, 344-45 

Rustebeuf  first  applies  serventois  to 
religious  poetry,  346 

Saint  Aignan,  Le  Due  de,  D4bat  in 
ballade  form  between,  and  Mme. 
de  Deshouli&res,  58-59 

St.  Bernard's  "  Die  ubi  Salomon," 
88 

Saint  Gelais,  Melin  de,  Autre  bal- 
lade of,  contains  several  familiar 
sayings,  99-100;  used  the  fable- 
ballade,  102 

Saint  Valentine  lore,  254 

St.  Valentine's  Day,  Courts  of  Love 
held  on,  103 ;  love  poems  written 
on,  104,  105-6 

Sainte-Beuve  on  Villon's  poignant 
refrain,  90 ;  reintroduced  the 
ballade  Into  France,  300 ;  Ballade 
du  Yieux  Temps,  301 

Sarasin,  Balade  du  Pays  de  Cocagne 
of,  mildly  satirical,  126-27;  bal- 
lade in  his  Pompe  Funebre  de 
Voiture,  127-28 

Satirical  Ballade,  The,  117-28  :  The 
"  sotte  "  ballade  of  unspeakable 
indecency,  118;  satire  of  Roger 
de  Collerye,  118-19 ;  viciousness 
of  the  satires  against  women, 
117,  119;  of  Bouchet  against 
consuming  loves,  3  20-121;  Les 
Controverscs  dcs  Sexes  Masculin 
et  Feminin,  121-123;  Louis  XI 
the  object  of  satire,  123-25; 
stanza  of  ballade  by  Henri  Baude 
against  a  favorite  of  Louis  XI, 
125 ;  the  Court  attacked  by  same 


INDEX 


395 


author,  125-26 ;  Collerye  "  centre 
les  flatteurs  de  Court,"  126 ; 
Sarasin's  Balade  du  Pays  de 
Cocagne,  126-27;  ballade  In  his 
Pompe  Funehre  de  Voiture,  127- 
28;  of  Tallhade,  310-11 

Scollard,  Clinton,  Ballade  commends 
itself  to,  316 

Serpent  of  Division  (Lydgate),  Bal- 
lade envoy  to,  255-56 

Serventois,  The,  developed  in  the 
puys,  38 ;  346-51  :  Stengel  on, 
346 ;  first  mention  of,  in  Ruste- 
beuf,  346 ;  always  has  an  envoy, 
346-47,  351 ;  example  of,  347-48 ; 
Les  Miracles  de  Notre  Dame 
abound  in,  348 ;  Deschamps  on, 
in  L'Art  de  Dictier,  348-49;  Le 
Grand  on,  in  Des  Rimes,  349 ; 
Les  Ragles  de  la  Seconde  Rh^- 
torique  on,  349-50 ;  Herenc  on, 
350 ;  Jean  Mollnet  on,  350-51 ;  in 
14th  and  15th  centuries  com- 
posed in  the  puys,  351 

Sex,  The  masculine,  calls  for  aid 
against  the  "  grande  follie "  of 
the  ladies,  121 

Seynt  Margarete  (Lydgate),  Bal- 
lade envoy  to,  254-55 

Sherman,  P.  D.,  Ballade  commends 
itself  to,  316 ;  ballade  '*  To  Aus- 
tin Dobson,"  337-38 

Shirley,  James,  use  of  term  balade, 
226 ;  note  of,  on  Compleynt  of 
Venus,  237-38 

Shirley,  John,  Collection  of  Middle 
English  poems,  291-92 

Sibilet,  Thomas,  wrote  that  ballades 
and  rondeaux  were  found  in  the 
drama  "  comme  morceaux  en 
fricassee,"  137 ;  Art  Poetique 
Francois,  196-98 ;  L'enuoy  or 
epilogue,  196-97,  218  ;  indebted  to 
his  predecessors,  209 ;  first  to 
show  humanistic  tendencies,  218 ; 
on  the  chant  royal,  353 

Sins,  Seven,  Ballades  on  the,  79-81, 
169,    213 

Skeat,  W.  W.,  on  reference  in  Chau- 
cer's Fortune,  235 ;  on  source  of 
Chaucer's  Compleynt  to  his  Emp- 
ty Purse,  243-44  ;  on  resemblance 
to  Deschamps  in  Chaucer,  248 ; 
ballades  in  his  collection  of 
pseudo-Chaucerian  pieces,  277- 
79  ;  the  triple  balade  "  manifestly 
Lydgate's,"   278-79 


Sonnet,   successor  to  ballade,  xviii 

Sonnet  sequences.  The,  of  the 
Elizabethans,  110 

"  Sotte "  ballade  J  Gross  indecency 
of  the,  118 

Spenser,  Edmund,  Use  of  term  bal- 
lads in  Faerie  Queene,  230-31 

Stanza  forms  in  Taylor's  edition 
poems  of  d'Orl^ans,  268-71 

Stanza  nucleus  and  conclusion,  9, 
12 

Stanzas,  Distribution  of,  between 
two  speakers,  31-32 ;  metrical 
units,  49 ;  most  common,  of  8  or 
10  lines,  49 

Stengel,  E.,  on  the  ballade  stanza, 
9-11 ;  postulates  the  archetypal 
ballade,  12;  groups  the  refrains 
of  the  Douce  Ms.  in  six  classes, 
19 ;  on  the  serventois,  346 

Stevenson,  Robert  Louis,  on  Ban- 
ville,  303 

Suffolk,  Duke  of.  Poems  attributed 
to,  282-84 

Swinburne,  A.  C,  found  sucessful 
means  of  expression  in  the  bal- 
lade, xix ;  ballade  in  favor  with, 
316 ;  Ballad  of  Dreamland,  Sept. 
1876,  319;  translation  of  third 
stanza  of  Villon's  Ballad  of  the 
Gibbet,  327 ;  ballades  to  Banville 
and  Villon,  332 ;  other  ballades 
of,  332-34 

Tailhade,  Laurent,  a  follower  of 
Banville,  301 ;  combined  some  of 
the  virtuosity  of  Banville  with 
Gascon  exuberance,  309  ;  ferocious 
satire  and  coarseness  in  ballades 
of,   310-11 

Taylor,  Watson,  edited  English 
Poems  of  Charles  d'0rl6ans,  267 ; 
criticism  of  work,  268;  79  bal- 
lades translated  from  d'Orl^ans, 
268-74 ;  forty  others,  one  from 
Christine  de  Pisan,  275-76 

Technique,  the  poet's  problem,  xix; 
remarkable,  of  Banville,  302 

Tenso,  The  ballade  dialogue  re- 
sembles the,  56 

Theory  of  the  Ballade  from  De- 
schamps to  Boileau,  154-221 : 
The  rhetorico-poetical  treatises, 
154 ;  Deschamps'  L'Art  de  Die- 
tier,  the  earliest  theoretical  dis- 
cussion, 154 ;  Boileau's  passing 
reference    to    the    ballade,    155 ; 


396 


INDEX 


Bibliography,  155-59 ;  Illustrative 
extracts,  160-208;  E.  Deschamps 
L'Art  de  Dictier,  160-64,  209-10  ; 
J.  Legrand,  Des  Rimes,  164-65, 
210 ;  Les  Ragles  de  la  Seconde 
RMtorique,  165-68,  211-12 ;  Bau- 
det  Herenc,  Le  Doctrinal  de  la 
Seconde  Rhetorique,  168-72,  212- 
13;  TraiU  de  L'Art  de  Rh6- 
torique,  173-74,  213;  Jean  Moli- 
net,  L'Art  de  Rhetorique  Vul- 
gaire,  174-78,  213-14;  L'lnfor- 
tun6,  L'lnstructif  de  Seconde 
RMtorique,  179-82,  214-15 ; 
Traits  de  RhStorique,  182-83, 
215 ;  P.  Fabri,  Le  Grand  et  Vrai 
Art  de  Pleine  Rhetorique,  184- 
86,  215-16;  L'Art  et  Science  de 
Rhetorique  Vulgaire,  186-92,  216  ; 
G.  Du  Pont,  Art  et  Science  de 
RMtoHque  Metrifiee,  192-96,  216- 
18 ;  T.  Sibilet,  Art  Poetique  Fran- 
cois, 196-98,  218;  J.  du  Bellay, 
La  Deffence  et  Illustration  de 
Langue  FranQoyse,  198,  218 ;  B. 
Aneau,  Le  Quintil  Horatian,  198- 

201,  219;  G.  des  Autelz,  Re- 
pliques  aux  Furieuses  Defenses 
de  Louis  Meigret,  201-2,  219; 
Jacques  Pelletier,  L'Art  Poetique, 

202,  219 ;  E.  Pasquier,  Recherches 
de  la  France,  202-4,  219;  F.  de 
P.  D.  Daigaliers,  L'Art  Poetique, 
204-6 ;  V.  de  la  Fresnaye,  L'Art 
Poetique  Francois,  200-7,  219; 
Le  Sieur  de  Deimier,  L'Acade- 
mie  de  L'Art  Poetique,  207, 
F.  Colletet,  L'Escole  des  Muses, 
207-8,  219;  Boileau,  L'Art  Po- 
etique, 208,  219;  Summary,  208- 
21 ;  Bibliography,  372-74 

To   Rosemounde    (Chaucer),    239 
Traits  de  L'Art  de  Rhetorique  gives 

rules  for  the  ballade  and  rondeau 

only,  173-74,  213 
Traitd  de  Rhetorique,  defines  three 

forms  in  kind,  182-83,  215 
Trente-six     Ballades     Joyeuses     of 

Banville,    303-6;    circulation    of 

copies  of,  in  London,  318 
Tresoriers,  Les,  Ballade  on  failure 

of     Louis     XII's     campaign     In 

Naples,    133 
Triple    ballades,   234,    236,    278-79, 

287-89 


Truth  (Chaucer),  240-41 

"  Ubi  sunt  "  Ballade,  The,  88-94  ; 
first  used  in  sermons,  didactic 
poems,  hymns  and  songs  in  Latin, 
88;  Latin  of  St.  Bernard,  88; 
three  poems  by  Deschamps  on 
theme,  89-90 ;  Thomas  de  Hales's 
Luve  Ron,  90-91 ;  Villon's  "  Mais 
ou  sont  les  neiges  d'antan,"  91- 
93 

"  Ubi  sunt "  motif  in  Andrew  Lang 
and  Gosse,  329-30 

Vacherie,  Pierre  de  la,  A  pagan 
association  in  ballade  on  death 
by,  86 

Vauquellin  de  la  Fresnaye,  L'Art 
Poetique  Francois,  206-7 ;  only 
names  the  ballade  not  to  praise 
it,  219 

"  Veris  ad  imperia,"  Latin  hymn 
cited  by  R.  A.  Meyer,  20-21 

Versification,  increasingly  complex, 
47 

"  Vieulx  amoureux  faictes  vng 
sault,"  refrain  of  two  ballades  by 
G.  Challenge,  340-42 

Villebresme,  Bertaut  de,  wrote  bal- 
lade on  a  refrain,  49 

Villon,  Francois,  found  harmonious 
expression  in  the  ballade,  xix ; 
wrote  on  theme  "  Je  meurs  de 
soif  aupr^s  de  la  fontaine,"  49 ; 
acrostics  by,  55 ;  Debat  du  Ouer 
et  du  Corps,  61-63;  ballade 
prayer  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  with 
acrostic  envoy,  64-65  ;  "  Mais  ou 
sont  les  neiges  d'antan "  most 
perfect  of  ballades,  91-93  ;  Sainte- 
Beuve  and  Gummere  on  Its  re- 
frain, 90 ;  wrote  two  other  bal- 
lades of  this  type,  93;  "Bal- 
lades des  Proverbes  "  of,  tempted 
other  poets,  96-97 ;  gross  Inde- 
cency of,  117,  119-20;  produced 
the  most  beautiful  ballades  in 
literature,  154;  Banville  on,  302; 
studied  by  the  English  poets, 
302;  Banville's  parody  of  Vil- 
lon's masterpiece,  304 ;  the  spirit 
of,  in  Banville's  "  ballade  des 
pauvres  gens,"  307 ;  revival  of  in- 
terest in,  in  England,  316;  Stev- 
enson on,  317 ;  translations  from, 
by    Miss    Costello,    319;    Ballade 


INDEX 


397 


of  Dead  Ladies  translated  by 
Lang,  322-23;  by  Cary,  323-24; 
by  Miss  Costello,  324-25;  by 
John  Payne,  325-26;  by  Rossettl, 
326-27;  third  stanza  of  Ballad 
of  the  Oibbet,  translated  by 
Payne,  Swinburne,  Lang,  327-28; 
Swinburne  wrote  a  ballade  to, 
332 ;  translated  eight  ballades  of, 
332;  what  V.  would  find  to-day 
in  Paris,  England  and  America, 
339 


White,  Gleeson,  on  ballade  material, 
291,  292 

Womanly  Noblesse  (Chaucer),  246- 
47;  Koch's  doubts  on,  246-47 

Women,  Satire  directed  most  often 
against,  in  lowest  Jargon,  117-19 

Wordsworth,  W.,  modernized  En- 
voy to  Alison,  277-78 

Wright,  C.  H.  C,  Criticism  of,  on 
Banville,  302-3 

Wyatt,  Thomas,  Poem  of  showing 
ballade  influence,  293 


VITA 

Helen  Louise  Cohen  was  born  17  March,  1882,  in  New 
York.  After  private  instruction  for  two  years,  she  became 
a  pupil  in  Dr.  Julius  Sachs's  School  for  Girls,  where  she 
remained  from  1891  to  1899.  She  then  entered  Barnard 
College,  graduating  with  the  degree  of  A.B.  in  1903.  At 
Columbia  University,  she  proceeded  to  the  degree  of  A.M. 
in  1905.  From  1903  to  1914,  she  was  a  teacher  of  English 
in  the  Washington  Irving  High  School  in  New  York,  and 
alternate  to  the  principal  there  from  1910  to  1913.  In  1914 
she  was  made  First  Assistant  in  English  in  the  same  school 
and  chairman  of  the  Department  of  English.  During  her 
years  of  graduate  work  she  studied  in  the  department  of 
Political  Science  under  Professor  James  H.  Robinson  and 
Professor  James  T.  Shotwell;  and  in  the  department  of 
English  and  Comparative  Literature  under  Professor  Ash- 
ley H.  Thorndike,  Professor  William  P.  Trent,  Professor 
William  W.  Lawrence,  Professor  Jefferson  B.  Fletcher, 
Professor  Brander  Matthews,  Professor  William  A.  Neil- 
son,  and  Professor  George  P.  Krapp. 


398 


